Nirmala Sitharaman has said that financial assistance to the health sector will help in increasing the facilities
The Center is in constant touch with various stakeholders to support economic growth, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said while addressing a webinar on health infrastructure on Tuesday.
“The revival of the economy, among many other reasons, requires a certain kind of support,” Ms Sitharaman said in the webinar, which was arranged to sensitize the healthcare sector about the government’s credit guarantee scheme.
He emphasized that the healthcare sector, which had been stretched to its limits during the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, now needs support to enhance its capabilities by adding better technologies and trained manpower.
The minister said that the government is supporting the sector through its Credit Guarantee Scheme for Covid Affected Areas (LGCAS).
Under the scheme, banks will provide loans up to Rs 50,000 crore to hospitals, clinics, dispensaries, among others, and the government will provide 75 per cent and 50 per cent guarantees on such loans for greenfield and brownfield projects, respectively. The guarantee cover for both brownfield and greenfield projects in aspirational districts is 75 per cent. The maximum loan taken under this scheme is Rs 100 crore per project.
The Finance Minister said that the banking sector needs to come forward and support them to increase the facilities in the hospitals.
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