The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare in its latest report tabled in Parliament on Wednesday expressed concern over the budget allocation to health and said that India’s health care needs to improve faster to meet global standards.
“The committee notes that a sum of ₹95,957.87 crore has been allocated to the Department of Health and Family Welfare for 2025-26, representing 1.89% of the total Union Budget estimate and 0.27% of GDP (at current prices). A review of past trends indicates that actual expenditure has often fallen short of the budgeted allocation, remaining at just 0.27% of GDP in both 2022-23 and 2023-24,” read the report.
“The committee notes the 10.83% increase in the Budget Estimate (BE) for 2025-26 as compared to the Revised Estimate (RE) for 2024-25, but the committee expresses concern over trend of the health sector’s budget allocation, as a percentage of GDP and the total Union Budget that has been consistently declining since 2022-23,” it added.
The report said that there is a need to spend more on health. “India being the most populous country, and given the inflationary pressures and the National Health Policy’s target of increasing government health expenditure to 2.5% of GDP by 2025, the committee believes that the allocation to the health sector, particularly to the Department of Health and Family Welfare, should have been much higher,” read the report.
To be sure, the numbers in the report are only about the allocations to the ministry of health.
The committee urged the department to take concrete steps to enhance the utilization of allocated funds effectively so that the targets set under a specific scheme are achieved. It recommended enhancing the executing capacity of implementing agencies .
“This would ensure the optimum utilisation of the allocated funds under the schemes, the report said.
The central government’s flagship schemes include Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission, Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, and Central Government Health Scheme.
The committee also expressed concern at 428 vacancies in the ministry.
“The committee is concerned to note that there has been negligible improvement in filling up the vacant posts from 2023-24, when a total of 454 posts were reported to be vacant… ” pointing out that this could impact the performance of the ministry.
In addition, the it recommended that the ministry increase the use of technology and implement measures to strengthen the digital proficiency of its officials.
The report mentioned that India is undergoing a rapid health transition, encompassing demographic, epidemiological, nutritional, and socio-cultural changes, marking a new era in global health.
“The access to affordable and quality healthcare services is crucial for optimizing the productivity of human resources in national economic growth and development,” it said.
Dr MC Misra, former director at All India Institute of Medical Sciences-Delhi said that along with increased budgetary allocation, the money should be “well-spent”.
“There is no denying that we need more government spending in every aspect of health care as under 2% that’s currently being spent is abysmal. However, just increasing allocation is not enough, there is a need to also ensure that the money that is being allocated is well-spent by way of audits etc,” Misra said.