Health Ministry demands Rs 15,000 cr for NRHM

New Delhi, Feb 27 (UNI) The Health Ministry has demanded doubling of the health budget, especially for its National Rural Health Mission.

''We have demanded Rs 15,000 crore for the National Rural Health Mission,'' Minister of State for Health Panabaka Lakshmi told UNI.

The previous year's budgetary allocation for the flagship programme of the UPA government was Rs 8207 crore.

She hoped that the budget to be presented in the Lok Sabha tomorrow would provide to the ministry the sum required by it.

NRHM is the umbrella programme aimed at providing accessible, affordable, accountable, effective and reliable primary healthcare facilities especially to the poor and vulnerable sections of the population, bridging the gap in rural healthcare services through creation of Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA). ASHA would reinforce community action for universal immunization, safe delivery, new born care, prevention of water-borne and other communicable diseases, nutrition and sanitation.

Improved hospital care, decentralised planning, ensuring population stabilisation, intersectoral convergence and maintaining gender balance constitute the basic features of NRHM. It seeks to strengthen service delivery by ensuring community ownership of health facilities.

UNI