NO BOOSTER SHOT FOR HEALTH

Despite the ongoing pandemic and growing healthcare needs, the sector gets little impetus

-  AMARNATH K. MENON

Budget 2022-23 had far less money to offer for healthcare than was expected in the face of the onslaught of Covid, which claimed over 200,000 lives in India during the second wave. At Rs 86,200.65 crore, the budget estimate (BE) for FY23 is about Rs 12,000 crore higher than last year’s BE of Rs 73,932 crore, but it is just Rs 200 crore more than the revised estimate (RE) for FY22 (Rs 86,000.65 crore). India ranks 179 among 189 countries in priority given to healthcare in government budgets.