Budget 2024: The Health Ministry has been allocated Rs 90958.63 crore in the Union Budget 2024-25. The Ministry has witnessed a hike of 12.9 per cent over 80,517.62 crore in the Budget (revised estimates) for 2023-2024.
Out of Rs 90958.63 crore, the Department of Health and Family Welfare has been allocated Rs. 87656.90 crore and the Department of Health Research has been allocated Rs. 3301.73 crore.
During her Budget 2024 speech, Sitharaman proposed that three cancer treatment medicines be exempted from basic customs duty completely to help patients with cancer. She also proposed changes in the basic customs duty for X-ray tubes and Flat panel detectors for use in medical X-ray machines “under the phased manufacturing programme to synchronise them to domestic capacity addition.”
During the interim budget 2024, the Health Ministry was allocated Rs 90,658.63 crore. Out of Rs 90,658.63 crore, Rs 87,656.90 crore has been allocated to the Department of Health and Family Welfare while Rs 3001.73 crore to the Department of Health Research.
In FY2023-24, the expenditure of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare was estimated to be Rs 89,155 crore, a 13 percent increase from revised estimates for 2022-23. The National Health Mission is its largest component, accounting for 33 percent of the Ministry’s budget, and medical colleges and hospitals account for 27 percent of the budget. High out-of-pocket expenditures and a shortage of healthcare personnel continues to be major issues.
