DRESSING UP THE WOUND

as the first of six pillars on which the Union budget proposals rest, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced an outlay of Rs 2,23,846 crore for 2021-22. “A 137 per cent jump” on the face of it, it seemed the government had responded to the all-too-obvious gaps in the country’s public healthcare set-up, which had been thoroughly exposed in the pandemic year. But it soon came to light that Sitharaman had indulged in a bit of). She also announced a new Pradhan Mantri Atmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana, with a budget outlay of Rs 64,180 crore—to be spent over the next six years at an average Rs 10,700 crore a year—to beef up the public health infrastructure. So, Sitharaman has combined several existing expense heads related to healthcare, not all managed by the health ministry and hitherto not accounted for as a part of the health budget.