HYDERABAD: The Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Panabaka Lakshmi, has said that the UPA Government accords high priority to the health sector and has consistently worked towards improving health standards of people in the last five years.
She said that the budget allocation for health had been increasing steadily and the plan outlay for health had gone up from Rs 6983 crore in 2003-04 to Rs 16,534 Crore in 2008-09. Adressing the Convocation of the Panineeya Mahavidyalaya Institute of Dental Sciences she said that the National Rural Health Mission was launched in 2005 to overhaul the healthcare delivery system.
The Government had given pride of place to indigenous systems of medicine in the Health Mission. The AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Homeopathy) system of medicine had got a budget allocation of Rs 4,000 crore in the 11th Plan, four times the amount in the previous Plan, she said.
The Government was also reviewing the syallabus of MBBS and Post Graduate students.