NEW DELHI: India on Thursday announced a national healthcare scheme for half a billion of its poorest citizens in a major giveaway to voters in the final budget before a general election.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said India’s most vulnerable families would be able to access up to Rs 500,000 ($7,855) a year for hospital cover through the initiative.
India spends a little over one per cent of its GDP on public healthcare — one of the lowest proportions in the world — a sum the government is aiming to increase to 2.5 per cent by 2025. The government currently provides Rs 30,000 towards healthcare for poor families, but that sum is insufficient to cover most medical procedures.
The programme would take public healthcare in the world’s largest democracy “to a new aspiration level”, said Jaitley.
“This will be the world’s largest government-funded healthcare programme,” he told parliament in his budget speech.
“The government is steadily but surely progressing towards a goal of universal health coverage.”
He said “adequate funds” would be provided to roll out the insurance programme to 500 million of India’s poorest nationwide.
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