Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is all set to present what will be the first budget with her at the helm of the finance ministry, on Friday, 5 July. It will also be the first budget presented after the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government swept to power for its second term.
We can expect more announcements around Ayushman Bharat, Prime Minister’s mega health scheme that came into effect in 2018. Then finance minister Arun Jaitley had announced that the Ayushman Bharat scheme would aim to provide medical coverage of upto Rs 5 lakh per family in a year to 11 crore (100 million) eligible families or nearly 50 crore (500 million) people. It was thought to be the world’s largest healthcare programme funded by public money.
Highlights From Budget 2018
By February 2019, over 10 lakh people have received healthcare facilities under the Ayushman Bharat scheme.
The amount spent on food security doubled during 2014-19 from previous five years.
The prelim budget, presented in Feb 2019, had also announced India’s 22nd AIIMS in Haryana.
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