137% Increase in Health Budget, A Rs 35,000 Cr Vaccine Fund

FY2021-22 outlay for health and well-being is up by nearly 137 per cent at Rs 2,23,846 crore from last year, said Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, as she announced the budget. The amount will be invested over a period of six years to improve primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare and is over and above the National Health Mission.

She also spoke about the role India will play in providing coronavirus vaccines to the 100 plus countries, as she announced an additional vaccine fund of Rs 35,000 crore. The Finance Minister said that the fight against COVID will continue well into 2021 and identified health and well-being as one of the six pillars of the budget.

Highlights of the Health Budget:

• Health outlay to be used to establish critical care units and hospital blocks across primary and tertiary centers.
• A new centrally launched scheme, PM Aatmanirbhar Swastha Bharat Yojana, will be launched under the new budget. It will have an outlay of Rs 64,180 crore over six years, said the FM.
• The yojana will be over and above the National Health Mission, said the Finance Minister. It will help strengthen the National Centre for Disease Control.
• She announced that 17,000 rural and 11,000 urban health and wellness centres will be set up.
• Integrated public health labs will be set up in each district.
• The government will also implement Jal Jeevan Mission with outlay of Rs 2.87 lakh crore to cover houses and to be implemented over five years. Budget 2021 will also launch Mission Poshan 2.0.
• Urban 'Swacch Bharat Mission' 2.0 with an outlay of Rs 1.42 lakh crore was also announced.
• The government has set aside Rs 35,000 crore for COVID-19 vaccination development.