NEW DELHI: Delhi government Tuesday announced an allocation of Rs 7,485 crore for the health sector in its budget, with Rs 588 crore being proposed for construction of new hospitals and re-modelling of existing ones.
Deputy Chief Minister cum Finance Minister Manish Sisodia presented a Rs 60,000 crore budget for 2019-20 in Delhi Assembly laying emphasis on the education, health and transport sectors. "I propose a total outlay of Rs 7,485 crore on the health sector for 2019-20. This includes revenue budget of Rs 6,462 crore and capital budget of Rs 1,023 crore. An amount of Rs 3,737 crore is earmarked for implementation of various schemes, programmes and projects under the health sector," Finance Minister said.
The budget also said 189 Aam Aadmi Mohalla Clinics have been set up and 333 more such clinics will be set up by the end of June 2019. About 40 lakh persons have availed health services at 'Mohalla Clinics' in the current financial year up to December 2018, Sisodia said.
"Our target is to set up 1,000 'mohalla clinics'. Similarly, 25 polyclinics are in operation and 94 more dispensaries are being remodelled to start polyclinics to provide specialized health care to citizens. An outlay of Rs 375 crore is proposed for 'mohalla clinics' and Polyclinics in 2019-20," Sisodoa said.
He said the Drugs Control Department has adopted a "zero-tolerance" approach towards pharmaceutical drug abuse and taken
stringent action against defaulters. "The department has cancelled or suspended 386 drug licenses of manufacturing units and sales premises till December 2018, who were found violating norms," he said.
The proposed outlay of Rs 3,737 crore in 2019-20 for
various projects is 45.07 per cent higher than the revised estimates of Rs 2,576 crore in the health sector in 2018-19, he said.
An outlay of Rs 588 crore has also been proposed for construction of new hospitals and re-modelling of existing Delhi government hospitals, the deputy chief minister said. "To enhance the total bed strength from 10,000 beds to 20,000 in hospitals, the work on construction of a 600-bed hospital at Ambedkar Nagar and an 800-bed hospital at Burari, will be completed shortly. The construction of a 1,241-bed hospital at Dwarka is at an advance stage," according to the budget.
Projects for remodelling of existing hospitals — RTRM Hospital, Acharya Shree Bhikshu Hospital, Deep Chand Bandhu Hospital, Bhagwan Mahavir Hospital, Sanjay Gandhi Hospital, Dr Baba Sahib Ambedkar Hospital and Guru Govind Singh Hospital, and other facilities, at a cost of Rs 963 crore have been sanctioned, Sisodia pointed out. This expansion and remodelling of existing hospitals will add 2,601 new beds, he added.