Shortfall of Rs 1,057 Crore in Delhi's Health Budget: AAP Govt Draws Flak

Delhi's AAP government projected health as one of its two priority areas along with education for many years. But this year, the health budget was reduced by about Rs 1,057 crore compared to last year. This is despite the fact that the education budget has been increased. The medical associations have directed their ire at the government for not paying the required attention to health infrastructure and payment of doctors' salaries.

New Delhi : In the 10th budget of Delhi government presented in the Assembly today, the health allocation has been reduced compared to last year. Last year's health budget was Rs 9,742 crore, whereas this time it came down to Rs 8,685 crore, about Rs 1,057 crore less than last year. This is despite the fact that the Delhi government has always considered health as one of its two priority areas along with education.

On the other hand, the AAP government has increased the education budget, but has reduced the allocation for health. The Delhi government gives budget to about 50 small and big hospitals. The major hospitals of Delhi government in the capital include Loknayak Hospital, GB Pant Hospital, GTB Hospital, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital, Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital, Delhi State Cancer Institute. There is also the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) and Maulana Azad Medical College.

The issue of doctors and health workers not getting salaries on time has also been raised in many hospitals. Doctors in Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital, Delhi State Cancer Institute and one or two other hospitals have outstanding salaries of three months each. Due to this, many doctors have left the hospitals. In the last session of the Assembly, former Delhi minister Rajendrapal Gautam himself had strongly raised the issue of doctors in hospitals not getting their salaries on time.

After that, the government took cognizance and paid the outstanding salaries to the doctors on Diwali. However, the problem came up again. While presenting the budget, Finance Minister Atishi said that funds have also been allocated for Delhi government hospitals.

While presenting the budget, Finance Minister Atishi said that funds have also been allocated for Delhi government hospitals. Apart from this, budget allocation has been made for other proposed schemes and old schemes.

The allocations for the respective Delhi hospitals are Loknayak Hospital Rs 719 crore, GTB Hospital Rs 497 crore, Baba Saheb Ambedkar Rs 291 crore, GB Pant Hospital Rs 490 crore, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital Rs 352 crore and Maulana Azad Medical College Rs 350 crore. Funds for health schemes area Rs 212 crore for Mohalla Clinics, Rs 658 crore for free medicines, Rs 80 crore for Delhi Arogya Kosh free treatment, Rs 400 crore for remodeling of hospitals and Rs 194 crore for CATS ambulance.

Responding to the health budget, Dr. Anil Goyal, former Finance Secretary of the Indian Medical Association, said that reducing Delhi's health budget by Rs 1,057 crore proves that the people of Delhi are not the priority of the Kejriwal government. Health is not included and the government is unnecessarily trumpeting Delhi's health model, he said. There is a huge shortage of ventilators and CT scan machines in Delhi government hospitals and some of the machines that are there are also faulty, he said. Despite this, the government has reduced the health budget and this is a betrayal of the people of Delhi, Dr Goyal said.

Former secretary of Delhi Medical Association, Dr. Ajay Gambhir, said that it is not right to reduce the health budget which is already low in the country as a whole. The government should focus on promoting research and new health technologies in the budget and Delhi government should focus on providing better health facilities to the people, he said. Stating that in some hospitals, the machines are broken and in some places there are no medicines, he said, adding that doctors of many hospitals are not getting salaries.

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