'Get well soon' outlay: Health care gets best-ever shot in Budget 2021

Allocation jumps 118% over RE to Rs 2.23 trillion; Rs 35,000 cr earmarked for Covid vaccination

Health care, the foremost agendum of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitha­raman’s Budget speech, saw an allocation of Rs 223,846 crore —an increase of around 118 per cent over the Revised Estimate — to cover “health and wellbeing” with a large chunk, Rs 35,000 crore, going tow­ards Covid-19 vaccination, a move widely cheered by the industry. 

“The investment in health infrastructure in this Budget has increased substantially. Progressively, as institutions absorb more, we shall commit more,” the finance minister said.

Adar Poonawalla of Serum Institute of India, the maker of Covishield vaccine, said the allocation would not be able to cover the entire population.