Health ministry seeks hike in budget allocation

BS Economy Bureau

The health ministry has asked the finance ministry for a significant hike in the health budget for 2002-03.

The ministry wants to increase the allocation for health, from the Rs 67.52 billion for the current fiscal, in order to help strengthen agencies like the Central Drug Standard Organisation, Drug Controller General of India's office, PNDT cell and autonomous health institutions like AIIMS, PGIMER and Nimhans.

These institutions need to be strengthened in view of the immediate need to regulate the pharmaceutical sector and to address the issues of genetic food, said officials in the health ministry.

New initiatives like the new registration system for manufacturers on import licence, upgradation of good manufacturing standards, setting up of expert panels for evaluation of new drugs and prescription of good clinical practices have increased the load on regulatory agencies.

Union Health and Family Welfare Minister C P Thakur recently placed the demands before Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha in a pre-budget meeting. He also asked the FM to remove bottlenecks in the creation of technical posts in the ministry of health and family welfare.

Thakur also underlined the need to expand the number of sub-centres, primary health centres and community health centres in line with the population figures of 2000.

He also requested the FM to extend tax-exemption benefits to the Indian Systems of Medicine sector to promote standardisation of drugs and good manufacturing practices.

The budget for health was hiked from Rs 54.05 billion in 2000-01 to Rs 67.52 billion in the current fiscal, a hike of almost 25 per cent.

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