NEW DELHI: The health sector saw a significant reduction of 10.84% in fiscal allocations for 2024-25. The Delhi government has set aside Rs 8,685 crore for healthcare, a decline of Rs 1,057 crores from the previous year when the city government allocated Rs 9,742 crores for the same.
However, presenting the budget in the Assembly, finance minister Atishi said the city’s healthcare system in the last nine years of AAP rule has improved remarkably.
Claiming that the health infrastructure in city hospitals was in shambles before the AAP took over, Atishi said dirty floors, broken and smelly toilets, soiled bedsheets, crowded OPDs, and zero accountability was a thing of the past. “Till 2014, even Delhi government-run hospitals were in a very bad state. If one went there with one disease, one would return with four,” Atishi jibed at past dispensations.
Highlighting the achievements of AAP government, the minister said bed strength at hospitals has increased in keeping with influx of patients seeking care.
“There are 38 hospitals under the Delhi government where daily more than 81,000 OPD patients and per month over 65,000 IPD patients are treated free of cost. In 2014-15, there were 9,523 beds at hospitals and the number rose to 13,708 for the 2024-25 period and about 1.5 times patients are now being given health care,” she said.
Atishi highlighted the contribution of former health minister Satyendar Jain, saying “Delhi’s health revolution is incomplete” without him, and added that Jain bolstered a crumbling health system during his tenure.
Health takes cut
FY 24-25 budget: `8,685 crore
FY 23-24 budget: `9,742 cr
Budget reduction of `1,057 cr in the health sector, 10.84%, as compared to FY 23-24