Increase to India’s health budget is not enough, say doctors

Doctors’ leaders have expressed disappointment at the amount of funding allocated for health and family welfare in the Indian budget for 2013-14, saying it is inadequate to meet the needs of the population.

P Chidambaram, India’s finance minister, presented the union budget for 2013-14 on 28 February. He allocated Rs373.3bn (£4.5bn; €5.2bn; $6.8bn) to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, a rise of 7% on the Rs349bn allocated to health in the 2012-13 budget. The proportion of the budget set aside for health was 2% this year, the same as last year.

The budget also provided Rs212.4bn for the National Health Mission, the government’s new showcase programme to deliver healthcare in rural areas that has recently been expanded to include urban areas.1

“Health for all …