Increase the allocation to health in the upcoming budget to minimum of 3% of the GDP – IDPD

Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD)
Email: idpd2001[at]hotmail.com

Date: 22.01.2025

Press Note

In a letter written to the Finance Minister Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman, the Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD) has demanded that allocation to health should be increased to at least 3% of the GDP in the upcoming budget. Considering the GDP in 2023-24 as 173.82 lakh crores, the allocation to the health in the previous budget of the central government which was 89287 crores rupees comes to only 0.51% of the GDP.

In terms of the budget, this allocation to health which was only 89287 cores rupees out of a total budget of 48.21 lakh crore rupees was only 1.8% of the total budget. For our population of 140 crore, this comes to only Rs.638/- per person. This is too meagre spending by the central government on the healthcare. It has led to high out of pocket expenditure for a vast population.

According to a March 2022 World Health Organization (WHO) report, more than 17% of Indian households experience catastrophic health expenditures each year. The report estimates that high OOP health expenditures impoverish around 55 million Indians annually.

India faces significant healthcare challenges, including a high burden of infectious diseases, a growing non-communicable disease epidemic, and inadequate healthcare infrastructure. The COVID pandemic has further exposed the vulnerabilities of our healthcare system.

Increasing the health budget to 3% of GDP would enable:

• Strengthening public health infrastructure

• Improving access to quality healthcare, especially for vulnerable populations

• Scaling up health programs and schemes

• Enhancing health research and development

Dr Arun Mitra Dr Shakeel Ur Rahman

President IDPD General Secretary IDPD

M: 9417000360 M: 9801106879