THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In the run up to the presentation of the state budget on February 3, the Indian Medical Association (IMA)’s Kerala chapter has demanded a four-fold increase in allocation for health expenditure in the budget.
The organisation said the current allocation was inadequate to tackle a host of issues faced by the health sector, such as new viral infections, non-communicable diseases and obesity among children that has emerged as a ‘silent epidemic’.
The budgetary allocation for the health sector should be increased from the current share, which is a little over 1%, to 4% in order to fund long-term projects, said IMA state president Sulphi Noohu.