Health mapping of all districts this year.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee raised the healthcare allocation for 2010-11, initiated mapping the country’s health profile and gave some tax relief on imported medical equipment.
In an announcement of far-reaching importance for public health in India, he said a health profile of all districts will be prepared this year. The findings will be fed into major public health initiatives, especially the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), a flagship programme of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.
In keeping with its promise of increasing the spending on this sector, Mukherjee proposed to increase the plan allocation for the ministry of health and family welfare from Rs 20,217 crore in 2009-10 (revised estimates) to Rs 23,350 crore in 2010-11, a rise of 15.5 per cent.
The overall allocation for public health has been increased from Rs 1,928 crore in 2009-10 (revised estimates) to Rs 3,181 crore in 2010-11. The NRHM allocation has been raised from Rs 12,096 crore to Rs 13,910 crore. But, that for medical education, training and research has come down slightly from Rs 2,699 crore in 2009-10 (revised) to Rs 2,678 crore in 2010-11. Allocation for the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, is down from Rs 886 crore in 2009-10 (revised estimates) to Rs 800 crore in 2010-11.
Given the rapid increase in diabetes and cardiovascular diseases in India, the allocation for programmes related to control and prevention of these diseases have been raised manifold – from Rs 17 crore in 2009-10 to Rs 90 crore in 2010-11.
The minister has also sought to bring some relief for state-of-the-art medical equipment. He announced a uniform, concessional basic duty of five per cent and CVD (countervailing duty) of four per cent, with full exemption from special additional duty on all medical equipment.
A concessional basic duty of five per cent will be levied on parts and accessories for manufacture of such equipment, while these would be exempt from CVD and special additional duty. Specified inputs of orthopaedic implants will also be exempt from import duty.