Centre will increase healthcare expenditure to 2.5% of GDP by 2025

Centre will increase healthcare expenditure to 2.5% of GDP by 2025

The Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said that the government has set a target to raise health services expenditure to 2.5 per cent of the country's GDP by 2025. He added that the government's expenditure on health services has increased continuously over the years.

In his reply to a query during Question Hour, he said the experience of last 10 years shows that with every passing year, the public expenditure on health services is "continuously increasing".

The minister informed that the National Health Policy 2017 envisages increasing the public health expenditure to 2.5 percent of the GDP by 2025. The Minister said the policy recommends that State governments should spend more than 8 per cent of their budget on the health sector by 2020.

The minister also said the government proposes to set up 1.5 lakh health and wellness centres by 2022 under the Aayushman Bharat programme. Of this 18,000-19,000 have already been established, he said.

These centres will boost healthcare facilities in the rural as well as urban areas.