Lok Sabha Question No. 1083 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-07-25
Subject: Disparity in Healthcare Funding
Ministry: HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
Asked by: Shri K Gopinath

## GOVERNMENTOFINDIA MINISTRYOF HEALTH AND FAMILYWELFARE DEPARTMENTOFHEALTH AND FAMILYWELFARE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1083 TO BE ANSWERED ON 25 TH JULY, 2025

## DISPARITYIN HEALTHCARE FUNDING

## 1083. SHRI K GOPINATH:

Will the Minister of HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to state:

- (a) the measures being taken to address the significant disparity in healthcare funding across States, particularly in underserved regions;

- (b) whether the Government plans to increase healthcare spending to meet the global average, given that India ' s healthcare spending remains at just 1.8 per cent of GDP;

- (c) if so, the details thereof;

- (d) the manner in which the Government intends to improve healthcare infrastructure and access, considering the current inadequacies highlighted by experts; and

- (e) the accountability mechanisms in place to ensure that the States prioritise healthcare in their budgets?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE (SHRI PRATAPRAO JADHAV)

(a) to (e): With the objective of attainment of universal access to equitable, affordable and quality health care services, the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) is implementing National Health Mission (NHM). Government provides technical and financial support to the States/UTs for improvement in health infrastructure, availability of adequate human resources to health facilities, to improve availability and accessibility to quality health care especially for the underserved and marginalized groups.

Based on the proposals received from the States in their Programme Implementation Plan (PIP), approvals are provided keeping in view the resource envelope of the States/UTs as well as existing norms.

Under NHM, norms have been relaxed for tribal area to address need-based intervention in terms of healthcare infrastructure and human resources:

-  The population norms for setting up health facilities in tribal areas have been relaxed from 5,000, 30,000 and 1,20,000 to 3000, 20,000 and 80,000 for setting up of Sub-Health Centre (SHC), Primary Health Centre (PHC) and Community Health Centre (CHC) in tribal and hilly areas respectively;
-  Against norm of one ASHA per 1000 population in normal areas, one ASHA per habitation in Tribal/hilly and difficult areas; and
-  Against the norm of 2 Mobile Medical Units (MMU) per district in plains, 4 MMUs per district in tribal/ hilly/ inaccessible/ remote and hard to reach areas.

Under the Pradhan Mantri Janjati Adivasi Nyaya Maha AbhiyaN (PM JANMAN) launched on 15th November, 2023, further relaxation in NHM norms has been provided to the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) areas such as 10 MMU per district, additional ANM and Multi Purpose Centres, and beneficiary saturation in PVTG areas.

Further, details of a few major schemes promoting health infrastructure are as under:

-  NHM is a centrally sponsored scheme, which involves a three-tier system with SHC (Rural), PHC (Urban and Rural) and CHC (Urban and Rural) as the three pillars of Primary Health Care System in India.
-  Pradhan Mantri- Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM) : PMABHIM is one of the largest Pan-India Scheme with an outlay of Rs.64180/Crores for strengthening health care infrastructure to effectively manage and respond to any future pandemics and outbreaks across the country. The scheme period is for 5 years i.e. FY 2021- 22 to FY2025-26. This has both centrally sponsored as well as central sector components.
-  Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY): The scheme provides support for (i) Setting up of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS); and (ii) Up-gradation of existing Government Medical College/ Institutions
-  Establishment of new medical colleges attached with existing district/referral hospitals: This centrally sponsored scheme aims at Establishment of Medical Colleges in underserved areas and aspirational districts.
-  15th Finance Commission (FC-XV): The FC-XV has recommended grants through local governments for specific components of the health sector to the tune of Rs.70,051 cr.

As per National Health Accounts Estimates for India 2021-22, the Government Health Expenditure (GHE) as percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has increased from 1.13% in 2014-15 to 1.84% in 202122. Centrally sponsored schemes (CSS) encourage States to earmark funds for healthcare in their budget.

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