NEW DELHI: A parliamentary panel has noted that despite the National Health Policy’s target of increasing government health expenditure to 2.5% of GDP by 2025, the allocation to the health sector, particularly to the Department of Health and Family Welfare, has not gone up.
It also said that in five years, it has been observed that the demand projected by the Department has been consistently low and has declined significantly compared to the 2021-22 level.
“Furthermore, budgetary allocations have continuously fallen short of the Department’s projected Demands for Grants, averaging a meager 0.3% of GDP at current prices,” said the Parliamentary Standing Committee report.
The committee, headed by Prof. Ram Gopal Yadav, also noted that there has been negligible improvement in filling up vacant posts by the Health Ministry and once again reiterated the need to “take appropriate steps to fill up vacant positions and implement better work management practices.”