Look for Drugs and Conditions

Mr. K. Chandrasekhar Rao

Telangana allocates Rs.5536 cr health budget

 Inkeshaf Ahmed
According top priority to public health, the Telangana government has allotted Rs. 5536 crore for financial year 2019-20 to the health sector for implementation of various welfare schemes.

Of the total funds, the lion’s share has gone for the implementation of Mother and Child Care programs like KCR Kits. The chief minister of the state Mr. K. Chandrasekhar Rao, while presenting the vote on account budget in the state assembly, said that they would spend 15 percent of the total funds allocated to the health sector on implementation of the KCR Kits scheme. Under the scheme, the state government is giving a cash incentive of Rs.12,000 - Rs.13000 to pregnant women who avail treatment at a Government hospital of the state. The CM did not specify the exact amount of allocation for the scheme as it was a vote on account budget and only stated that 15 percent of the total allocations would be made towards the KCR Kits scheme. The state government is also implementing several schemes like Amma Vodi (Mother’s also) Kanti Velugu (Eye Sight) and the free cashless healthcare services scheme Aarogyasri for different sections of society.

According to officials of the health department, Rs.600 crore is likely to be allocated to the Aarogyasri scheme and Rs.300 crore for Employees And Journalists Health insurance scheme. The officials have reportedly set aside Rs.300 crore for the procurement of medicines.

On the face of it there is a drop in the year on year allocation made to the health department. The government earlier allotted Rs. 7375 crore to the health sector. The allocation has now been brought down to Rs. 5536 crore for the upcoming financial year, an apparent drop of Rs.1839 crore in the allocated funds this year.

The picture, however, becomes clear when we look at the funds actually spent in the state in the health sector in the last five years.

The officials have said that the decision to reduce the allocations was a taken with full consciousness. “We have been observing that the budgetary allocations being made to the health department are not completely spent in the last five years due to varied reasons. We also found that the department was able to spend only 65 percent of its annual allocations during the last four years. This has prompted us to bring down the amount of allocations to the department for the upcoming financial year."

Clearly, even as the allocation might have gone down, the actual spending on public health is slated to go up smartly in Telangana.


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