Hike budgetary allocation for healthcare research: Parl panel to Centre

NEW DELHI: A parliamentary panel has asked the Centre to increase budgetary allocation for critical healthcare research after it found “huge” mismatch between demand and allocation of funds for schemes of Department of Health Research (DHR).

The panel recommended increased investments in health research to provide affordable and quality healthcare and noted that in the USA, the budget of National Institute of Health, which functions like that of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) under DHR, is 32 billion dollars per year.

The parliamentary panel also supported the DHR’S demand for additional funds to the tune of Rs 835 crore for 2017-18.

“The committee notes that against the 12th Plan Outlay of Rs 10,029 crore, only Rs 3,575.17 crore was allocated to the department at Budget Estimate stage which was further reduced to Rs 3,266.50 crore in the Revised Estimate (RE) (around 32 per cent of the approved outlay),” the panel on Demands for Grants 2017-18 for DHR said.

“The actual expenditure was Rs 3,180.99 crore up to February, 2017. The committee observes that there is a huge mismatch to the tune of Rs 6,762.50 crore between 12th Plan outlay and the RE allocation made to the department,” it said.

India’s rapidly growing economy has thrown up huge health challenges and DHR has a “crucial” role to play in ensuring healthcare service to the population by way of generation of new knowledge and its translation into health projects.