Union Budget 2022: AIIMS, JIPMER budgets increase, new mental health program to be launched

Amid the ongoing third wave of Covid 19, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has presented the Union Budget 2022 and announced an increase in budgets for major institutes like AIIMS, JIPMER, and PGIMER.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2022 on February 1. The budget announcement came during the ongoing third wave of Covid-19. She announced that the pandemic has highlighted the mental issues in people of all age groups and to handle the situation, a National Tele Mental Health Programme will be launched for mental health counselling with the collaboration of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) and Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Bangalore. NIMHANS will be the nodal centre and IIIT Bangalore will provide the technical support.

There will also be integrated health architecture launched including Mission Vatsalya, Mission Shakti, Poshan 2.0, and Saksham Anganwadi. Two lakh Anganwadis to be upgraded to Saksham Anganwadis.

Premier Medical Institutions Budget in Union Budget 2022

The major medical institutions including Jawaharlal Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), and Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) saw an increase in budget by a few hundred crores. AIIMS budget has increased to INR 4,190 crore from last year's INR 3,800 crore, PGIMER's budget for this year is INR 1,840 crore as compared to last year's INR 1,613.82 crore. For JIPMER and NIMHANS, the budget allocated is INR 1,340 crore and INR 560 crore respectively.

For North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences, Shillong, the budget is INR 456 crore as compared to INR 350 crores last year, Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal, has got the INR 560 crore as against the INR 438.77 crore last year.

All these medical institutes saw an increase in the medical budget which was anticipated after going through three waves of the Covid-19. Other medical institutes that got more budget this year are - Regional Institute of Paramedical and Nursing Sciences, Aizawl, which got INR 132 crores this year as compared to INR 88.87 crores last year. Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi Regional Institute of Mental Health, Tezpur, has been allocated INR 70 crores, an increase of INR 13 crores as compared to the previous year.

Under the ‘Establishment of New Medical Colleges and Increase of Seats in existing Government Medical College’ (PMSSN) scheme, the outlay increased by INR 2,700 crore. This year, the budget allocated is INR 7500 crore as compared to last year's INR 4,800 crore. 

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