In line with its guiding principles on Healthcare – summarised by “Every Life Matters” and “Swasth Rashtra, Samarth Rashtra” -, the AAP Delhi Government has been continuously augmenting its Healthcare budget in the last 7 years.
Budget Allocation
Budget Allocation as a % of total budget
The National Health Policy 2017 had recommended that by 2020, states should allocate at least 8% of their budget towards health. The 15th Finance Commission reiterated this target and recommended states to meet this target by 2022.
In 2021-22, states on an average have allocated just 6% of their budget towards health and family welfare.
At 15.9%, Delhi has the highest allocation among all states of its budget towards health and family welfare in 2021-22:
(Source: Figure 34, State of State Finances: 2021-2022)
Budget Expenditure
Budget Expenditure in crores
Delhi’s Healthcare budget has almost tripled since 2015. It increased from ₹3,600 crore in 2014-2015 to ₹9,934 cr in 2021-2022.
It grew at an annual rate of 20% between 2014-2015 and 2019-2020, as compared to an annual growth rate of 14% in the preceding 6 years between 2008-2009 and 2014-2015.
(Source: Pg. 43, DDC Performance Report 2015-2019)
Budget Expenditure as a % of total budget
Delhi spent the highest on Health and Family Welfare in the 2015-2021 period.
(Source: Figure 45, State of State Finances: 2020-2021)
The AAP government’s expenditure on Healthcare is very much higher than that of other states. At 12.7% in 2018-2019, it was almost thrice the average of all states (4.8%).