Health sector gets Rs 62,659 crore, hits 2-year high

New Delhi: Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday, announced  a Rs 62,659.12-crore outlay for the health sector for the current fiscal 2019-20, the highest in the last two financial years. The health outlay for this financial year saw an increase of around 19 per cent over the 2018-2019 fiscal, when it was Rs 52,800 crore.

The allocation for the health sector is Rs 60,908.22 crore, with Rs 6,400 crore earmarked for the government’s flagship health insurance scheme Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (AB-PMJAY). The AB-PMJAY is a flagship scheme of the government that aims at providing annual health cover of up to `5 lakh per family for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation.