More money for rural health mission
July 6th, 2009 - 3:47 pm ICT by IANS
New Delhi, July 6 (IANS) The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), that aims to provide quality healthcare to villagers, Monday saw its budget allocation increased by Rs.2,057 crore ($411 million).
Describing the NRHM as an “essential instrument for achieving goal of health for all”, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in his budget speech proposed “an increase of Rs.2,057 crore over and above Rs. 12,070 crore provided in the interim budget” he had presented before the general elections earlier this year.
The flagship programme of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, the NRHM was launched in 2005. The aim was to improve the availability and access to quality healthcare for people living in remote areas.
The main focus is on 18 states that have weak public health infrastructures - Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh, Nagaland, Orissa, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.
The finance minister in his 2009-10 budget also increased by 40 percent the allocation for the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), the health insurance plan that was launched last year.
“More than 46 lakh BPL (Below Poverty Line) families in 18 states and UTs (union territories) have been issued biometric smart cards,” for the scheme, the finance minister said in his speech.
He said this scheme “empowers poor families by giving them freedom of choice for using healthcare services from an extensive list of hospitals including private hospitals.
“Government proposes to bring all BPL families under this scheme. An amount of Rs.350 crore, marking 40 percent increase over the previous allocation, is being provided in 2009-10 budget estimates,” he added.
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- All BPL families proposed to be brought under Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana - Jul 06, 2009
- NRHM gets higher allocation - Mar 16, 2012
- Better health services for poor envisaged (Lead) - Mar 16, 2012
- Himachal Pradesh to spend more on health - Mar 21, 2012
- Government health insurance to cover beedi workers - Mar 15, 2012
- Over 14.5 million covered under social security programme - Nov 29, 2010
- Meghalaya to introduce health insurance scheme - Aug 02, 2011
- Highlights of union budget for 2009-10 (Second Lead) - Jul 06, 2009
- India's health budget goes up by 20 percent (Lead) - Feb 28, 2011
- Budget has many schemes for common man - Jul 06, 2009
- Max Bupa bids for state health insurance in three states - Oct 18, 2011
- National Social Security Fund to be set up for unorganized sector workers - Feb 26, 2010
- 'Government to fund health mission for five more years' - Apr 26, 2012
- Highlights of union budget for 2009-10 (Third Lead) - Jul 06, 2009
Tags: arunachal pradesh, budget allocation, budget estimates, budget speech, finance minister, freedom of choice, general elections, health insurance plan, himachal pradesh, interim budget, jammu kashmir, national rural health, national rural health mission, poverty line, pranab mukherjee, private hospitals, progressive alliance, union budget, uts union, uttarakhand, yojana