Close look shows Union Budget's 137% increase on healthcare is illusory

It is unclear as to why Rs 35,000 crore has been earmarked for vaccines, writes K Sujatha Rao.

Budgets, like miniskirts, are expected to hide more and reveal less. That is not helpful when one is trying to understand if the horrific Covid-19 experience, which so comprehensively destabilised our economic, social and psychological wellbeing, had finally been able to get the health sector the desperately needed hike in budgets and policy attention.

TV headlines suggesting a 137% increase in health budgets is sadly misleading. A closer look at the budget document indicates the health outlay pegged at Rs 71,269 crore, and an additional Rs 35,000 crores for Covid-19 vaccines. When health determinants like water, sanitation, and nutrition are added,