Press release: Exposing the mirage of ‘Modicare’, foregrounding need for Public health provisioning and Public policy innovations as alternative

The Union Budget 2018-19 makes tall claims, with no clear roadmap for the health sector which is sensitive to the needs of the poor and the vulnerable population of India. The allocations for Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) (including for AYUSH) have increased from Rs. 50,281 crore in 2017-18 (BE) to Rs. 56,226 crore in 2018-19 (BE). However, from 2017-18 (RE) the increase is much lower, a mere Rs. 1374 crore, or just about 2.5 percent. This is a decline in real terms if we account for inflation, and Union Budget allocations for the health sector have stagnated at 0.3 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Considering National Health Policy (NHP) 2017 target of 2.5 percent of GDP as health expenditure by the Government (both Centre and States) by 2025, with central allocations stagnating at the current 0.3 percent of GDP, it would not be possible to achieve the target by 2025.