CAG: Govt health care allocation far behind UN target

Magadh Darpan 58 Views

Special Correspondent (New Delhi): CAG: Govt health care allocation far behind UN target. The report, discussed in parliament on Monday, informed that health expenditure as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) had been increasing since 2015-16 but remained within a narrow band of 1.02-1.28 % of GDP.

Pulling up the Union Government, the country’s apex auditor CAG has said that the Government funding on health care is “ a long way” before it can meet the development as the health care development of India is adopted as a part of United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)s.
The SDGs has taken responsibilities of 17 objectives include hunger, health and improving poverty by 2030. CAG( Comptroller and Auditor General) review the work done related to health improvement in different central ministries and Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Assam, and Uttar Pradesh.
The report, tabled in Parliament on Monday, noted that public health expenditure as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) had been increasing since 2015-16 but remained within a narrow band of 1.02-1.28 % of GDP. CAG said “There is still a long way to go before the target of public health expenditure is achieved and the central allocation for health for 2019-20 was far short of the target. In states, health spending as a percentage of total states expenditure ranged from 3.29 to 5.32% which shows that this needs considerable augmentation” in its report.
CAG report said, “Data for certain health indicators were not regularly or uniformly available.”

It is a challenging task to achieve targets by 2030 with the current financial resources. For implementing SDGs, Ministry of Finance and State Governments have to integrate SDG related financial resources in national budgeting for implementing SDGs.
CAG review is to check the preparedness of the Government for the implementation of SDGs. It selected ‘Goal 3- Good Health and Well-Being’ for a detailed examination. NITI Aayog comes under CAG’s criticism will coordinate the 2030 target.
The road map, a key action plan is yet to be prepared, the report noted. Mapping of goals/targets undertaken by NITI Aayog and selected states is still ongoing. States are preparing Policy documents. The efforts of selected states to increase SDGs awareness were not comprehensive, focused or sustained, the report said.
The auditor in its recommendations same a comprehensive charter and action arrange with well-defined milestones for implementing SDGs ought to be developed once due consultations.

It additionally prompts the employment of Direct profit Transfers (DBT) ought to be enlarged and strong to avoid leakages and to boost potency in the usage of monetary resources.