Budget Reactions: Budget`s midget measures miss big reform cues

By Mr Aman Gupta, India Health Progress

The most laudable aspect about Budget 2012-13 is the launch of the National Urban Health Mission. For years, the healthcare focus has been on the rural poor, ignoring the fact that in the past few decades many of them have been migrating to cities in search of livelihoods. In urban areas, the rural poor then live much-maligned, marginalized lives. The National Urban Health Mission could now address the needs of all needy people in cities: the urban poor and the rural poor settled in urban areas.

Besides this, the string of other positives include: the most-welcome step of placing Healthcare in the Negative List of 17 exempt from Service Tax; hiking the National Rural Health Mission allocation from Rs18,115 crore last year to Rs20,822 crore; allocating Rs14,000 crore for rural drinking water and sanitation (an increase of more than 27% over the previous year, which could reduce mortality and morbidity rates by 20% per annum