Health Budget increased to provide good medical facilities

In a bid to improve the health care system, Finance Minister Arun Jaitely increased the Health Budget allocation to provide good medical facilities at affordable rates.

Two key aspects — free drugs and free diagnosis for the poor have been given top priority in the budget proposal.

As the health system in India is facing a big challenge, the government laid out a major plan to improve it. The Health Minister Dr. Harshvardhan hailed the new proposals and said that the government is determined to convert health activities to social movement in the country.

General Secretary of the India Medical Association Narender Saini demanded more allocation in health sector to meet the requirement for providing affordable health services.

For the first time the central government will provide assistance to strengthen the drug and food regulatory system in states by creating new drug testing laboratories and strengthening 31 existing laboratories.

But unfortunately India is still among the countries in the world that spend lowest on health care.

According to the economy survey 2013-14, the health expenditure is just 1.4 per cent of GDP. To provide quality and affordable healthcare for a large Indian population, a lot more has to be done.


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