Government health expenditure in India

436CBull World Health Organ 2015;93:436C | doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.2471/BLT.14.143362 Letters Government health expenditure in India Manoj Grovera In their paper about progress towards universal health coverage in Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, China, South Africa (BRICS),1 Rao et al. report that in India in 2011, of total government expenditure, about 8% was expended on health. This estimate was from the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) global health observatory data respository,2 which is based on national health accounts. For India, data on the national health accounts were last collected in 2004–2005. More recent data are usually based on estimates obtained through national technical contacts or from publicly- available documents, which are then harmonized with the national health accounts framework. Missing values are estimated using various accounting techniques depending on the national data available.3 However, according to the Indian Government’s budget and expenditure data for the fiscal year 2012–2013 (Table 1),4–7 the government spent about 1 104 543 million rupees on health (central and states combined). This is about 3.68% of the total government ex- penditure of 30 037 588 million rupees and not 8% as quoted in the article.1 ■ Competing interest: None declared. a Health and Family Welfare Division, Planning Commission (NITI Aayog), Government of India, Yojana Bhavan, Sansad Marg, New Delhi, 110001, India. Correspondence to Manoj Grover (email: manojgrover84@gmail.com). (Submitted: 27 June 2014 – Revised version received: 29 October 2014 – Accepted: 9 December 2014 – Published online: 27 April 2015 ) References 1. Rao KD, Petrosyan V, Araujo EC, McIntyre D. Progress towards universal health coverage in BRICS: translating economic growth into better health. Bull World Health Organ. 2014 Jun 1;92(6):429–35. doi: http://dx.doi. org/10.2471/BLT.13.127951 PMID: 24940017 2. Health expenditure ratios, data by country [Internet]. Geneva: World Health Organization: 2014. Available from: http://apps.who.int/gho/indicatorregistry/ App_Main/view_indicator.aspx?iid=93 [cited 2015 Mar 31]. 3. Global health observatory data repository [Internet]. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2014. Available from: http://apps.who.int/gho/data/node. main.75?lang=en [cited 2014 Oct 29]. 4. Ministry of Finance. Expenditure budget 2014-15. New Delhi: Government of India; 2014. Available from: http://indiabudget.nic.in/ub2014-15/eb/ stat01.pdf [cited 2014 Jun 24]. 5. Ministry of Finance. State and UT plan outlay by ministries/departments. New Delhi: Government of India; 2014. Available from: http://indiabudget. nic.in/ub2014-15/bag/bag7.pdf [cited 2014 Oct 29]. 6. State finances a study of budgets of 2013-14. Mumbai: Reserve Bank of India; 2014. Available from: http://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/Publications/ PDFs/SFASB220114_FULL.pdf [cited 2014 Jun 24]. 7. Notes on demand for grants, 2014–15. New Delhi: Government of India; 2013. Available from: http://www.indiabudget.nic.in/ub2014-15/eb/allsbe. pdf [cited 2015 Mar 31]. Table 1. Government health expenditure in India, 2012–2013 Expenditure State (revised estimate) Central (actual expenditure) Total Plana Non-planb Plana Non-planb Overall, million rupees 5 911 346 11 111 429 3 047391 9 967 422 30 037 588 Health, million rupees 335 562 436 952 268 667 63 362 1 104 543 % spent on health 5.68 3.93 8.82 0.64 3.68 a Plan expenditures include new projects and/or completion of projects started in the last five years. b Non-plan expenditures are obligatory expenditures such as maintenance, interest payments, subsidies and pensions. Notes: Revised estimates also include supplementary requests for funds (during the financial year) from the state government, in addition to the budget estimate. Revised estimates are listed separately in the data sources. Central assistance for state and union territory plans have been included under the state plan expenditures and excluded from the central government’s expenditure.4,5 Data sources: State government6 and central government.4,5,7