Health Sector Grant of Rs.8,453.92 crore released to Local Bodies of 19 States

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The Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance has released an amount of Rs.8,453.92 crore as health sector grant for rural and urban local bodies of 19 States.  The grants have been released as per the recommendations of the Fifteenth Finance Commission.  State-wise amount of grant released is enclosed.

The Fifteenth Finance Commission (FC-XV) in its Report for the period from 2021-22 to 2025-26 has recommended a total grant of Rs.4,27,911 crore to local governments. The grants recommended by the Commission inter-alia  include health grants of Rs.70,051 crore.  Out of this amount, Rs.43,928 crore have been recommended for Rural Local Bodies and Rs.26,123 crore for Urban Local Bodies.

These grants are meantto strengthen health systems and plug the critical gaps in the health care system at the primary health care level.  The Commission has also identified interventions that will directly lead to strengthening the primary health infrastructure and facilities in both rural and urban areas and has earmarked grants for each intervention.These interventions are:

  1. Support for diagnostic infrastructure to the primary healthcare facilities in rural areas – Rs.16,377 crore
  2. Block level public health units in rural areas – Rs.5,279 crore
  3. Construction of buildings of building-less Sub centres, PHCs, CHCs in rural areas – Rs.7,167 crore
  4. Conversion of rural PHCs and sub centres into health and wellness centre – Rs.15,105 crore
  5. Support for diagnostic infrastructure to the primary healthcare facilities in urban areas – Rs.2,095 crore
  6. Urban health and wellness centres (HWCs) – Rs.24,028 crore

Health grants recommended to be released in the financial year 2021-22 is Rs.13,192 crore.  This includes Rs.8,273 crore for Rural and Rs.4,919 crore for Urban Local Bodies.

Rural and urban local bodies can play a key role in the delivery of primary health care services especially at the ‘cutting edge’ level and help in achieving the objective of Universal Health Care.  Strengthening the local governments in terms of resources, health infrastructure and capacity building can enable them to play a catalytic role in epidemics and pandemics too.

Involving Panchayati Raj institutions and Urban Local Government as supervising agencies in these primary health care institutions would strengthen the overall primary health care system and involvement of local governments would also make the health system accountable to the people.

Health grants to the remaining 9 States will be released after their proposals are received from the respective States through the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Health Sector Grant released for Local Bodies

S.No. State Amount of Grant released

(Rs. In crore)

1. Andhra Pradesh 488.1527
2. Arunachal Pradesh 46.944
3. Assam 272.2509
4. Bihar 1116.3054
5. Chhattisgarh 338.7944
6. Himachal Pradesh 98.0099
7. JKharkhand 444.3983
8. Karnataka 551.53
9. Madhya Pradesh 922.7992
10. Maharashtra 778.0069
11. Manipur 42.8771
12. Mizoram 31.19
13. Odisha 461.7673
14. Punjab 399.6558
15. Rajasthan 656.171
16. Sikkim 20.978
17. Tamil Nadu 805.928
18. Uttarakhand 150.0965
19. West Bengal 828.0694
  Total

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