Surgical strike: Cancer care goes to town, more doctors in making

To meet the rising demand for human resources in the health sector, the govt will add 10,000 medical seats over the next financial year. The goal is to have 75,000 more seats in five years, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday while presenting the Union Budget. The health sector has been allocated Rs 99,859 crore - an 11% increase over last year's Rs 89,974 crore (revised estimates).

In a big push to expand cancer treatment facilities beyond big cities, she said daycare cancer centres will be set up in all district hospitals over the next three years, and 200 of them will be established in 2025-26, a step towards making cancer care more accessible and affordable. These centres offer facilities such as biopsy, blood transfusion and chemotherapy, treatments that do not require hospitalisation for more than 24 hours.

Sitharaman announced that online gig workers will be provided healthcare facilities under PM Jan Aarogya Yojana, the govt's flagship scheme started in 2018 to provide Rs 5 lakh health insurance to 12 crore poor and vulnerable families, and later, expanded to cover several other sub-groups, including senior citizens aged 70 and above regardless of income. PMJAY has been allocated Rs 9,406 crore for 2025-26, a Rs 1800-crore hike over last year's Rs 7,606 crore.

Allocation for National Health Mission has been increased from Rs 36,000 crore in 2024-25 to Rs 37,226 crore in 2025-26, for National Tele Mental Health Programme from Rs 45 crore to Rs 79 crore and for National Digital Health Mission from Rs 225 crore to Rs 340 crore from Rs 225 crore.



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