Budget 2022-23: Thrust on mental healthcare

Tribune News Service

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, February 1

The Union Budget has proposed to raise health sector allocation by nearly 17 per cent, setting aside a major chunk of Rs 747 crore for the ambitious Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission that seeks to prepare all 734 districts for future challenges and pandemics.

Two years into the pandemic, major focus areas in Budget are digital and mental health and the need to invest in both segments. A National Digital Health Ecosystem and National Tele Mental Health Programme will be launched

Overall allocation has gone up from Rs 73,932 crore in the Budget estimates of 2021-22 to Rs 86,200 crore in the BE of 2022-23, a rise of 16.59 per cent. Of this year's allocation, Rs 3,200 crore is only for health research.

Major focus areas in the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's Budget speech were digital and mental health and the need to invest in both segments — a learning of two years of the Covid-19 pandemic. A National Digital Health Ecosystem and National Tele Mental Health Programme will be launched. Also an integrated architecture will be created to improve women and child health and nutrition indicators.

This architecture will include Mission Shakti (for women's health), Mission Vatsalya (for the care of pregnant women); Saksham Anganwadis (empowering anganwadis to improve child health) and Poshan 2.0 (to improve dismal child nutrition indicators). Two lakh anganwadis are to be upgraded to Saksham Anganwadis.

The above announcements follow National Family Health Survey-5 findings on dismal rate of improvement in child health indicators.

The FM said the three missions were recently launched to provide integrated benefits to women and children and these schemes would be strengthened. The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, launched by PM Narendra Modi in September last year, was part of the Budget speech. It entails maintenance of patient records in a digital format for easy access by doctors and bringing hospitals, doctors, pharmacies and labs on a single online platform for citizens to choose.

On mental health, the FM said, "To better access to quality mental health counselling and care services, a National Tele Mental Health Programme will be launched. This will include a network of 23 tele mental health centres of excellence.”

Major allocations

• Rs1,238.90 crore: Ayushman Bharat-PM Jan Arogya Yojna
• Rs1,541.05 crore: Establishment/upgrade of medical colleges
• Rs5.50 crore: National mental health programme
• Rs747 crore: PM Ayushman Bharat Health Infra Mission

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