Union Budget 2024: Health Ministry gets Rs 90,958 crore, 12% increase from 2023

The Union government has allocated Rs 90,958.63 crore to the Health Ministry in its budget for the year 2024-25. While Rs 87,656.90 crore has been allotted to the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Rs 3,301.73 crore is allotted to Department of Health research. This is a 12.9% increase from the revised estimates of 2023-24, which was Rs 80,517.62 crore. Meanwhile, the Ministry of AYUSH has been increased from Rs 3,000 crore to Rs 3,712.49 crore.

Further, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that three more cancer drugs - Trastuzumab deruxtecan (for breast cancer), Osimertinib (lung cancer drug for EGFR mutation), and Durvalumab (for lung and biliary tract cancers) - are completely exempted from customs duty. In her seventh budget speech, she also called for exemptions in custom duties on X-ray tubes and flat panel detectors. "I also propose changes in the BCD (Basic Customs Duty), X-ray tubes, and flat panel detectors for use in medical X-ray machines under the phased manufacturing programme to synchronise them with domestic capacity addition," said FM Sitharaman.

The budget allocation for centrally sponsored scheme National Health Mission has increased to Rs 36,000 crore from Rs 31,550.87 crore in the revised budget. The Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (PM-JAY) has been allocated Rs 7,300 crore.

(With IANS inputs)