Health Sector Prioritised In Odisha Budget 2023-24

Bhubaneswar: Odisha has witnessed an incredible transformation in the Health Sector in the last two decades under the leadership of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari said today as he tabled the budget for 2023-24 in the State Assembly.

From being a State known for its poor health indicators in the year 2000, today Odisha stands tall as an Achiever State in the country with the highest decline in Infant Mortality Rate in the country between 2005 to 2020 (SRS); 2nd highest point decline in Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) in the country between 2015-17 to 2018-20 (SRS); highest Immunization Coverage in the country (90.5%: NFHS-5); highest decline of 94% in Malaria in the country; second rank in the country for TB reduction; and a record Institutional delivery of 92.2% (NFHS-5), said Pujari.

“The COVID management in our state, driven by the clarion call ‘Every life is Precious’ of our Hon’ble Chief Minister, received worldwide recognition and appreciation. Despite the lockdown, we scaled up our Oxygen production facilities not only to meet our own requirement but also supplied to many other states facing a severe shortage of Oxygen, enabling them to save large number of lives.”

“The impact of 5T initiatives on healthcare development of the state is clearly visible on the ground, from transforming the SCB Medical College & Hospital into an AIIMS Plus category hospital to introducing BSKY Smart Health Cards to launching Mukhya Mantri Bayu Swasthya Seva (air health services),” he added.

Below are the excerpts from the Finance Minister’s speech pertaining to allocation for Health and Family Welfare…

A total sum of Rs.16,048 crore has been proposed for public health care, which is an increase of about 27 percent over previous year and about 3 times of the allocation in 2017-18. It amounts to 7 percent of the State Budget. This includes provision of Rs.3,725 crore under Administrative Expenditure and Rs.12,031 crore under Programme Expenditure under Health and Family Welfare Department. The provision under Programme Expenditure has been substantially increased by 33% over the Budget Estimates, 2022-23.

AMA Hospital : Transformation of Public Health Facilities under 5T

‘Health Care for All’ has been the guiding principle of our Government while formulating the Budget for 2023-24. It has been the dream of the Chief Minister to upgrade public health facilities to the standard of the best private hospitals. Towards this end, I propose to introduce a new scheme under Health Sector AMA Hospital which has an ambitious target to transform 147 health facilities in a record period of 9 months, with an outlay of Rs. 750 crores in the Budget Estimates for 2023-24. Under this scheme the Physical Health Infrastructure, basic patient amenities and service delivery system in the public health facilities, i.e. Community Health Centres, Sub-District Hospitals and District Head Quarter Hospitals will be upgraded.

Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY)

When illness strikes a family, health expenditures can be catastrophic, wiping out life-time savings and pushing families below the poverty line. The Hon. Chief Minister, with an aim to protect all families in the time of illness, launched the path-breaking Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana, making Odisha the first and only State in the country and perhaps the world, where all healthcare services, from OPD consultation to ICU and surgery, are provided free of charge to all persons, in all Government hospitals. Each year, poor families save Rs. 600 crores expenditure on drugs, which is borne under Niramaya. Similarly, the people of Odisha save over Rs. 150 crores each year on diagnostic expenses alone, as the same is borne by the Nidaan scheme.

In addition to this, 96.5 lakh families covering over 3.3 crore people of Odisha are provided with cashless healthcare in over 600 premier private hospitals across 17 States.

Till date, over 10 lakh families have saved over Rs 2100 crores towards healthcare expenses in premier private hospitals. The House will be happy to know that about 50,000 families have availed cashless care above Rs. 1 lakh per annum and nearly 1000 women have availed healthcare of over Rs. 5 lakh per annum.

It is an indicator of the success of the scheme that BSKY has sustained a record 97% Positive patient feedback over the years.

Human Resources: No health facility without Doctor

It is the goal of the Government to ensure that all public health facilities have required numbers of doctors and paramedics. Towards this end, nearly 4000 doctors have been recruited in the last 5 years alone, and over 5000 doctors are expected to be recruited in 2023-24. Similarly, the government has recruited over 9000 nurses and paramedical officers in the last 3 years and another 9000 are expected to be recruited this year. Additional provision of Rs. 229 crore has been proposed under Administrative Expenses in the Budget Estimate, 2023-24 towards their establishment charges.

Mukhya Mantri Swathya Seva Mission (MMSSM)

The State is laying much emphasis on creation and expansion of health care infrastructure across the State. In the past 6 years, the State has established 7 new medical colleges at Balasore, Baripada, Bolangir, Koraput, Puri, Keonjhar and Sundergarh, and 2 new Post Graduate Institutes at Acharya Harihar Cancer hospital, Cuttack and Capital Hospital, Bhubaneswar. In 2023-24, it is planned to make the Kalahandi medical college functional, followed by Talcher, Phulbani and Jajpur in subsequent phases.

Due to the vision of the Hon. Chief Minister to strengthen medical education, the State is confidently moving towards self-sufficiency in meeting our need for doctors and specialists. While Odisha was producing only 321 MBBS doctors and 254 specialists per year in the year 2000, we now produce 2200 MBBS doctors and 826 specialists each year, and these numbers are increasing each year.

In 2021, the Hon. Chief Minister took a landmark decision to reserve 15% of MBBS seats for students of Government High Schools. It is a matter of pride for us that in the past 2 years, 415 students of Government High Schools have been admitted in MBBS courses, under this policy.

For infrastructure  development, an  amount of Rs.3,003 crore have been proposed  in the  BE, 2023-24 under the State Scheme Mukhya Mantri Swasthya Seva Mission, which includes Rs.1400 crore for SCB Redevelopment Programme. Additionally, Rs.71 crore has been provided towards  Diet, Rs.646 crore  towards outsourcing  of services for security, sanitation, laundry and maintenance under NIRMAL and Rs.110 crore towards Equipment in the BE for  2023-24.

108 Ambulance Service

The 108 Ambulance Services was launched by the Government in 2012-13 to provide emergency transportation service to critically ill patients. The present Average Response Time of 108 ambulance service across the country is about 30 minutes. Keeping in mind the motto of the Hon. Chief Minister that ‘Every Life is Precious’, the Government has undertaken an ambitious target of reducing the Average Response Time of ambulances from 30 minutes to 20 minutes. Accordingly it is proposed to induct 236 new Ambulances into the fleet, for which a budgetary provision of Rs.250 crore has been proposed in the Budget Estimate, 2023-24.

Odisha Comprehensive Cancer Care Plan

To provide Cancer Care in Chemotherapy, Onco-surgery, Radiotherapy and Palliative Care to the people, it has been planned to establish 11 centers in 3 phases with an indicative estimated cost of Rs. 1,046 crore. A sum of Rs.211 crore has been proposed for establishment of Cancer Care Centers in the BE for 2023-24.

National Health Mission (Rural & Urban)

For implementation of various Centrally Sponsored Schemes, Rs. 2,289 crore has been provided in the BE, 2023-24.