New Delhi, February 1: The healthcare sector got a major boost in the Union Budget 2018. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday tabled the Union Budget in Lok Sabha and announced two major initiatives in health sector as part of Ayushman Bharat programme. Jaitely while presenting the General Budget 2018-19 in Parliament said that the healthcare initiatives were aimed at making path-breaking interventions to address health holistically, in the primary, secondary and tertiary care systems, covering both prevention and health promotion.

The two newly launched initiatives are as follows:-

(i) Health and Wellness Centre:- The National Health Policy, 2017 has envisioned Health and Wellness Centres as the foundation of India’s health system. Under this 1.5 lakh centres will bring health care system closer to the homes of people. These centres will provide comprehensive health care, including for non-communicable diseases and maternal and child health services.  These centres will also provide free essential drugs and diagnostic services. The Budget has allocated Rs.1200 crore for this flagship programme. Contribution of private sector through CSR and philanthropic institutions in adopting these centres is also envisaged.

(ii) National Health Protection Scheme:- The second flagship programme under Ayushman Bharat is National Health Protection Scheme, which will cover over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families (approximately 50 crore beneficiaries) providing coverage upto 5 lakh rupees per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization.  This will be the world’s largest government funded health care programme. Adequate funds will be provided for smooth implementation of this programme.

Here are the key highlights:

  1. Rs 600 crore has been announced for nutritional assistance to tuberculosis patients .

  2. Rs 5 lakh per family per year for medical reimbursement, under National Health Protection Scheme. This will be world's largest health protection scheme

  3. Rs 1,200 crore has been allotted for the 1.5 lakh health and wellness centres.  These wellness centres will be set up in all districts across the nation.

  4. About 24 new govt medical colleges and hospitals will be set up by upgrading existing district hospitals.

  5. A flagship National Health Protection policy will cover 10 crore poor and vulnerable families which will include nearly 50 crore beneficiaries.

  6. A total of Rs 5 lakh per annum has been announced for each family who would be included in the list of beneficiaries. "This is the world's largest such scheme, covering a record number of 50 crore people. This scheme will also create jobs, especially for women”, he said.

  7. 24 new government colleges have been announced which would offer free treatment to patients from the Schedule Tribes and Scheduled Tribes community, Jaitley announced.

  8. Amid raising concerns on air pollution in Delhi NCR, Jaitley said special scheme will be implemented to support Haryana, Punjab, UP and Delhi NCT to address this and subsidise machinery for management of crop residue

During his address today, the Finance Minister touched a number of sections including agriculture and rural economy, Job creation - SME/MSME, health, infra, senior citizens, income tax, railways, education among others. “Technology will be the biggest driver in improving quality of education. We propose to increase the digital intensity in education and move gradually from blackboard to digital board”, Jaitley said.

To give a fillip to the Prime Minister’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan scheme, Jaitley announced that a total of two crore toilets will be constructed in the next two years. In terms of education, the Finance Minister said that Eklavya Schools have also been announced for tribal children and a total of Rs 13,000 crore has been allotted for the digital training of teachers who would be deployed for imparting education in the Eklavya Schools.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 01, 2018 01:43 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).