Lucknow, Feb 11 (PTI) The Uttar Pradesh government has earmarked substantial allocations for health, medical education and AYUSH sectors in the 2026-27 Budget, underscoring its focus on strengthening healthcare infrastructure and services across the state.

Earlier in the day, Finance Minister Suresh Khanna presented a Rs 9.12 lakh crore Budget for the financial year 2026-27 in the state Assembly, reflecting an increase of about 12.2 per cent over the previous year's outlay.

For the Medical, Health and Family Welfare sector, a provision of Rs 37,956 crore has been proposed, which is 15 per cent higher than the allocation for 2025-26, according to an official statement.

The government said the Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram is being implemented in all districts of the state to ensure guaranteed cashless delivery services for pregnant women visiting government health facilities.

Under the National Child Health Programme, two medical teams have been deployed in each block to conduct health check-ups of children at anganwadi centres and schools.

The Pulse Polio campaign, being conducted across all districts since December 8, 2024, has administered polio drops to 3,28,44,929 children, the government said.

Vaccination against Japanese Encephalitis is being carried out without interruption in 42 sensitive districts of the state.

Under the Ayushman Bharat Mukhyamantri Jan Arogya Yojana, 49.22 lakh beneficiary families have been covered, with a proposed allocation of Rs 500 crore for the scheme. A provision of Rs 2,000 crore has also been proposed under the Ayushman Bharat National Health Protection Mission.

The District Mental Health Programme is operational in all 75 districts under the National Mental Health Programme.

The government said that through the Integrated Disease Surveillance Portal, regular reporting of 16 infectious diseases, six vaccine-preventable diseases and COVID-19 is being carried out by the government as well as private health units at the district level.

An allocation of about Rs 8,641 crore has been proposed for the National Rural Health Mission.

In the field of medical education, the Budget proposes Rs 14,997 crore. At present, Uttar Pradesh has 81 medical colleges, including 45 run by the state government and 36 in the private sector.

As many as 60 districts are currently covered by medical college facilities, while medical colleges are proposed to be set up in 16 unserved districts under the public-private partnership (PPP) model.

The number of MBBS seats in government and private medical institutions has increased from 4,540 in 2017 to 12,800 at present. Similarly, postgraduate seats have risen from 1,221 in 2017 to 4,995.

A provision of Rs 1,023 crore has been proposed for the establishment and operation of 14 new medical colleges.

The government has also proposed Rs 315 crore for the Cancer Institute in Lucknow and Rs 130 crore for providing free treatment for incurable diseases.

For the AYUSH sector, an allocation of about Rs 2,867 crore has been proposed. The state currently has 2,111 Ayurvedic, 254 Unani and 1,585 Homoeopathic hospitals, along with eight Ayurvedic, two Unani and nine Homoeopathic medical colleges and their attached hospitals.

To ensure the supply of certified and quality medicines in Ayurvedic and Unani hospitals, two state-run drug manufacturing units are operational in Lucknow and Pilibhit, and efforts are being made to strengthen and enhance their production capacity, as per the statement. PTI CDN MR