Budget 2024-25: ASHA, Anganwadi workers to come under health cover, HPV vaccines planned for teenage girls

The Finance Minister said the government would also look for ways to open up more medical colleges using the hospital infrastructure under various departments.

New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday dropped a clear hint on the central government’s plan to introduce human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine for teenage girls in the public immunisation programme to protect them from cervical cancer besides extending the benefits of a government-funded family insurance scheme to grass root workers providing health and nutrition services in villages.

Presenting the interim budget, she said the government would also look for ways to open up more medical colleges using the hospital infrastructure under various departments.

“The government will encourage vaccination for girls in the age group of 9-14 years for the prevention of cervical cancer,” Sitharaman said.

The minister's announcement comes in the wake of the Union Health Ministry preparing a roadmap to launch a HPV vaccination campaign to target girls in the 9-14 years age group. A decision would be taken by the new government later this year.

For more than a decade, the ministry toyed with the idea of introducing the HPV vaccine for girls in the public immunisation with a steady rise in cervical cancer cases. While earlier there were a couple of foreign vaccines, an indigenous HPV vaccine is currently available.

"HPV vaccine aids in the primary prevention of cervical cancer. Most effective when given to adolescents between 9 to 14 years of age, the vaccine has a success rate of 88%. In India, we also have an indigenous vaccine for cervical cancer priced at Rs 2,200 (in private market)," commented Rama Joshi, a senior gynaecologist at Fortis Hospital, Gurgaon, reacting to the announcement.

In the interim budget document, the Union Health Ministry was allocated over Rs 90,000 crore, which is marginally higher than last year’s budgetary allocation of over 89,000 crore. But this fiscal’s allocation was slashed by nearly Rs 9,000 crore in the revised estimate.

Some of the key health sector programmes that witnessed a substantial drop are Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission, programme to prevent AIDS and sexually transmitted disease and PM Swasthya Suraksha Yojna for upgrading hospitals.

Sitharaman said the newly designed U-WIN – a digital platform to track vaccination - will be rolled out expeditiously throughout the country for better managing the immunisation drive under Mission Indradhanush.

She also announced extending healthcare coverage under the Ayushman Bharat scheme to all ASHA workers, Anganwadi workers and helpers. The scheme – currently applicable to nearly 50 crore people from poor socio-economic backgrounds – offers Rs 5 lakh health insurance for hospitalisation.