BioVoice News May 2017 Issue 12 Volume 1 | Page 75

Health minister reviews preparedness regarding Dengue & Chikungunya The Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Mr J P Nadda held a high level meeting to review the preparedness of the Ministry and Central Government Hospitals for prevention and control of dengue and chikungunya in the country. During the meeting, Mr Nadda asked the States for mounting aggressive IEC campaigns to enhance awareness on prevention and control of vectors in their surrounding areas and neighbourhoods. Mr C K Mishra, Secretary (Health) and other senior officers of the Union Health Ministry, National Vector-Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) were also present in the meeting along with Directors/ MS from the Central Government hospitals. Taking stock of the situation, Mr Nadda was briefed on the preparations of the Health Ministry and was informed that advisories have already been sent to all States as early as January for strengthening their preparedness before the dengue season. The officials further informed him that teams of experts from the Ministry have visited many States to review their preparedness and advised them suitably. The Central Government hospitals informed that they were adequately equipped to combat dengue and chikungunya during this season. 0.03% hike in public health budget, govt aims 2.5% of GDP by 2025 The National Health Policy, 2017 envisages public expenditure on health to increase to 2.5 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in a time bound manner by 2025. In the meantime, the government says it has increased the budget allocations for the health mildly as compared to the last time. The revised estimate for 2016-17 and budget estimate for 2017- 18 under National Health Mission are Rs 20,037 crore and Rs 21,940 crore respectively. cells. We were thrilled when this research was started in India. Sadly, due to a lack of incentives, willingness and support the research has come to a stand still,” says Gagandeep. A statement showing expenditure on health by Government of India as well as States/UTs and as the percentage of GDP for 2015-16 (RE) and 2016-17 (BE) shows the comparative increase of 0.03 percent. Mentoring frontline health workers as the champions of NCD prevention The burden of NCDs in India, particularly, has grown exponentially in the recent past. Expanding BIOVOICENEWS.COM 75