Jan Swasthya Abhiyan Terms Union Budget 2026-27 a “Betrayal,” Cites Drastic Cuts in Public Health Funding

New Delhi, 2nd February 2026: The Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA), a national coalition of over 1,000 health organizations, has strongly condemned the Union Health Budget 2026-27, describing it as a betrayal of the promises made in the 2017 National Health Policy. In a detailed statement released today, the JSA highlighted that the Centre’s allocation for health has stagnated at a mere 0.27% of the GDP, far below the targeted 1%.

Stagnant Allocations and Missed Targets

According to the JSA analysis, the 2017 National Health Policy committed to increasing government health expenditure to 2.5% of the GDP by 2025. However, the current budget reflects a decline. The Union government’s allocation has dropped from 0.37% (2020-21 actual expenditure) to 0.27% in the 2026-27 budget. Furthermore, the share of the health budget within the total Union Government budget has declined from 2.26% to 2.07% over the same period.

National Health Mission (NHM) Under Threat

The report flags a “major neglect” of the National Health Mission (NHM), a flagship scheme for rural and urban health services. The JSA points out an 8% steep decline in the NHM budget in real terms for 2026-27. This comes despite evidence that actual expenditure on NHM has consistently exceeded allocations in previous years, indicating high demand for funds on the ground.

Neglect of Women and Child Health

Critical schemes under the Ministry of Women and Child Development have seen only “paltry increases,” which the JSA argues amounts to a decline in real terms due to inflation.
POSHAN 2.0: Saw only a meagre 5% increase.
Mission Shakti: Schemes like SAMBAL (One Stop Centre, Beti Bachao) saw marginal declines, while SAMARTHYA (Maternity entitlements) saw miniscule increases.

Privatization Over Public Strengthening

The JSA criticized the government for “starving the public sector” while pampering private partnerships. The statement highlighted a massive 36% increase in allocation for the insurance-based Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) for 2026-27, despite the scheme utilizing only INR 6,983 crores of its allocated INR 7,500 crores in the previous year. The JSA argues this promotes an insurance model that has proven inefficient globally, rather than strengthening public healthcare delivery.

Fiscal Federalism Concerns

The statement raises alarm regarding the “hyper-centralisation” of resources. The transfer of Union health spending to States has plummeted from 75.9% in 2014-15 to just 51% in the current budget. The JSA contends this severely limits the fiscal space for State governments, who bear the primary burden of healthcare delivery.

Drugs, Research, and AYUSH

While the JSA welcomed the launch of “Biopharma SHAKTI” and a 20% increase in the AYUSH budget, they noted caveats. There is concern over the continued neglect of public sector units (PSUs) like IDPL and HAL, which are essential for producing basic drugs and ensuring self-sufficiency. Additionally, past trends show that allocated funds for AYUSH often face cutbacks in revised estimates.

Call to Action

The Jan Swasthya Abhiyan has called upon Parliament and the public to demand a doubling of the Union Health Budget to ensure at least 5% of the total budget is allocated to health, aiming for a Universal Health System rather than insurance-based models.