New Delhi: Four centrally run hospitals in the national capital, including the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi, have sought an outlay of more than ₹9,000 crore from the upcoming interim budget, which will be presented next week by Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, according to officials from these hospitals. The government hospitals are expected to see an overall jump in allocation of around 13% this year.
Apart from AIIMS Delhi, the other three hospitals are: Safdarjung Hospital, Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and Lady Hardinge Medical College. In the previous Union budget, these four hospitals were given an outlay of ₹8,027 crore, with AIIMS Delhi getting most.
AIIMS Delhi, a premier institute, has sought a budgetary allocation of ₹4,450 crore this time, 7% more than what was allocated last year, according to officials from the institute. In the 2023-24 Union budget, the hospital was allocated ₹4,134 crore, of which it has so far received ₹3,720 crore.
According to the hospital administration, the rise in budget expectations has been placed considering more expansion programmes and payment of salaries, including those who are appointed on a contractual basis. “The institute has come up with new buildings recently and we need to maintain those. Also, the existing old buildings need more maintenance. And so we are hoping that our budget will be increased this time,” said an official.
Being an autonomous institute, AIIMS Delhi gets a separate budget, which is higher than those of other centrally run hospitals.
Standing opposite to AIIMS Delhi is Safdarjung Hospital, which has this time demanded around ₹2,200 crore, a rise of nearly 18% from last year’s ₹1,853 crore.
According to hospital officials, the Union health and family welfare ministry has been putting in efforts to raise the status of Safdarjung Hospital and introduce more departments to reduce the burden of AIIMS Delhi. The Hospital is focusing on women’s health and upscaling its gynae department. Other departments such as urology, too, are coming up with dedicated women OPDs (out-patient departments).
Apart from routine and selective surgeries, OPD and super speciality care, Safdarjung Hospital also provides free ayurvedic OPD and homoeopathic OPD in its premises.
The Ram Manohar Lohia hospital has this time sent an expectation of nearly ₹1,600 crore, which is about 25% more compared with last year’s allocation of ₹1,272 crore, the hospital administration said. The hospital has a nursing home for central government employees and members of parliament. It is also a training centre for the undergraduate students of Lady Hardinge Medical College.
The Lady Hardinge Medical College has this time demanded a budget of ₹825 crore, which is a rise of about 7%, as mentioned by the hospital administration. In 2023-24, the hospital was given a budget of ₹768 crore.
The institute provides undergraduate medical education for women, postgraduate medical education for both men and women, and medical care for women and children. The college has associated hospitals—Sucheta Kriplani Hospital and Kalawati Saran Children’s Hospital—for comprehensive practical training to students. It also runs the School of Nursing that offers nursing and midwifery courses.
“A major chunk of the budget demand is to pay the salaries timely of the outsourced staff and clear the allowances. The budget for salary comes around ₹250 crore and rest is given for building maintenance purpose. However, a major issue that we are facing is dearth of manpower for proper functioning,” said Lady Hardinge’s director Dr Subhash Giri.
The higher outlay is being sought to fund expansion plans and for timely salary payments
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Published: 26 Jan 2024, 11:40 PM IST