BHUBANESWAR: With an aim to take the health services to the last person in the society under its ‘Health for All’ endeavour, the Naveen Patnaik Government has allocated Rs 9,164 crore in the Budget 2021-22 to the sector, marking a 19 pc rise from the previous year.
The health budget in 2020-21 was Rs 7,699.84 crore. The government’s flagship schemes like Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) and Mukhyamantri Swasthya Seva Mission (MSSM) have received focused attention for building health infrastructure and services.
As per the budget estimates, Rs 1,353 crore has been provided under BSKY and Rs 1,572 crore under MSSM. Reckoning that National Health Mission (NHM) is an effective tool for universal health facilitation, a provision of Rs 1,755 crore has been made for the programme.
The government has proposed Rs 600 crore under Niramaya for free medicine, Rs 229 crore under Nidan for free diagnostics,Rs 370 crore for maintaining quality of sanitation, laundry, security, gardening and lift services in public health facilities under Nirmal scheme and Rs 162 crore under Odisha State Treatment Fund.
An outlay of Rs 117 crore has been made to upgrade health care facilities with better equipment at major health institutions and district headquarter hospitals (DHH) and Rs 63 crore under Public Health Response Fund for the management of Covid-19 and emergency healthcare facilities.
Similarly, Rs 40 crore has been allocated for a new scheme Free Treatment for Trauma Fund (FTTF) for providing emergency health care and trauma care facilities to the victims of road traffic accidents.
With a commitment to convert SCB Medical College into ‘AIIMS plus institute’ to provide world-class healthcare facilities, Rs 3,500 crore has been proposed over next three years and Rs 500 crore allocated for 2021-22.
“Apart from the budgetary outlay of the Health and Family Welfare Department, schemes pertaining to public health-related interventions are also being implemented by other departments like Labour and ESI, Women and Child Development in addition to off-budget financing from OMBADC and DMF. The total estimated expenditure for the health sector from all sources would be about Rs 13,000 crore,” Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari said.