With the Covid-19 pandemic affecting emotional and psychological health, Finance Minister of India, Honourable Nirmala Sitharaman, revealed the rollout of the national telemental health program to improve access to quality mental health counseling.
Presenting the budget for 2022-23, she also announced an open platform for the National Digital Health Ecosystem, which will consist of digital registries of health providers and health facilities, consent framework, unique health identity, and universal access to health facilities.
In the budget, the government has proposed an allocation of INR 8600.65 crore to the health sector, a hike of around 16% over INR 73931 crore in 2021-22. Of this, INR 83000 crore has been allocated to the department of health and family welfare and INR 3200 crore to the department of health research.
The government has also increased the budgetary allocation for the central sector projects and schemes from INR 10566 crore to INR 15163 crore.
Among these Central sector schemes, the allocation for the Pardhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana has been secured from INR 70000 crore to INR 10000 crore.
The allocation for the National Digital Health Mission has been hiked from INR 30 crore to INR 200 crore. For the National Health Mission, the proposed allocation has been increased from INR 36576 crore in 2021-22 to INR 37000 crore in 2022-23. The budget allocation for autonomous bodies has been increased from INR 8566 crore in 2021-22 to INR 10022 crore. The allocation for statutory and regulatory bodies has been raised from INR 315 crore in 2021-22 to INR 335 crore.
In her budget speech, the Finance Minister talked about the ongoing Omicron Wave, saying that the speech of the Indian Vaccination Campaign has helped greatly, and she was also confident that with the ‘Sabka Prayas’, this wave should be overcome.
Honorable FM Ms Sitharaman also said that 95% of the 112 aspirational districts had made major progress in health and some other parameters and that effort would now be made to work on districts that were lagging.For startups like icareheal Healthtech (www.icareheal.com), this is indeed a promising indicator that underlines their efforts to quicken the acceptance of technology to make healthcare more inclusive.
Well-being and mental health gained immense importance as the Finance Minister has made announcements for launching the National telemental health Program. Acknowledging that the pandemic has accentuated mental health problems in people of all ages, the Finance Minister said, “The pandemic has accentuated mental health problems in people of all ages. To better access quality mental health counseling and care services, a National Tele Mental Health program will be launched.”
The center for psychological support in disaster management at the NIMHANS has launched a nationwide toll-free 24/7 helpline to address the mental health and psychological concerns of the public during the pandemic and lockdown. As of now, the government is also operating the SAMVEDNA Tele counseling service that offers psychological support to children to address their stress, fear, anxiety, and some other issues at the time of the pandemic.
Major allocations
- Rs1,238.90 crore: Ayushman Bharat-PM Jan Arogya Yojna
- Rs1,541.05 crore: Establishment/upgrade of medical colleges
- Rs5.50 crore: National mental health programme
- Rs747 crore: PM Ayushman Bharat Health Infra Mission
