VIJAYAWADA: Creation of medical infrastructure besides implementation of Vaidya Seva and Thalliki Vandanam schemes seem to get prominence in the vote-on-account budget of the coalition government led by N Chandrababu Naidu.
The Government has made grants for a revenue expenditure of Rs 6,782.02 crore for the Medical and Health Department while Rs 1,198.12 crore was earmarked for capital expenditure.
According to sources, the revenue expenditure would cover NTR Vaidya Seva and clearing dues to super-speciality hospitals.
The allocation of funds under capital expenditure covers construction of five medical colleges and improving infrastructure facilities in the existing ones. Recently, National Medical Council (NMC) has refused permission for admissions due to lack of proper facilities.
Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh Super Speciality Hospitals Management has urged the government to clear the arrears of about Rs 2,500 crore by August 15.
Additionally, the State government will allocate some funds for the infrastructure development in PHCs, CHCs, government hospitals, as well as the government super speciality hospitals including medical college hospitals, sources said.
For school education, the State allocated Rs 9,875.25 crore for revenue and Rs 1,458.37 crore for capital expenditure. Higher education gets Rs 736.05 crore for capital and Rs 141.02 crore for revenue expenditure.
Sources said that the government will allocate a major share to the Thalliki Vandanam scheme, as the TDP stated in its manifesto to distribute Rs 15,000 under the scheme for every school going child. Thalliki Vandanam is said to be the flagship scheme of the coalition government.
The allocation also covers Sarvepalli Radhakrishna Vidyardhi Mitra, Dokka Seethamma Madhyana Badi Bhojanam, Manabadi-Mana Bhavishyattu, Balika Raksha, Abdul Kalam Pratibha Puraskaram, and other initiatives.