Doctors in Karnataka express dissatisfaction with 'insufficient' allocation in Health Budget
BENGALURU: Medical professionals have slammed the Union government’s health budget, saying Rs 69,000 crore was simply inadequate. "The health budget is disappointing. It should have been double the amount," said Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology director Dr C Ramachandra.
Dr RV Asokan, secretary-general, Indian Medical Association said, "For a country of this size, 2.5 per cent of expenditure should be on health but here it barely touches 1.1 per cent. It is highly disappointing to see that health is never prioritised."
Several doctors were critical of the government’s plans for the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana - popularly called Ayushman Bharat - which provides insurance cover of up to Rs 5 lakh a year to poor families.
"About 15 percent of Ayushman Bharat goes to insurance companies when the government could have directed it to the hospital. Around 80 per cent of hospitals availing this scheme are government-run. It is grossly underfunded and would require three times the amount of the union health budget. The PPP model is a sell-out. It helps private medical colleges get attached to government hospitals when they could have attached the government hospitals to government medical colleges," Dr Asokan added.
Narayana Nethralaya MD Dr K Bhujang Shetty said, "Another important feature was to include health care under zero-rated services or reduce the GST on medical supplies, but it wasn’t considered in the budget, which is highly disappointing."
Good Move
"Allocation of Rs 35,600 crore for nutrition is a good move. It is a 7-8 per cent increase from last year. Spending Rs 3,000 crores on skill development will help states when coordinating with the centre for schemes such as Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS)," said Pariksha Rao, co-founder of Lil’ Goodness and sCoolMeal.