At a time when the country’s official healthcare infrastructure needs intensive care, underutilisation of budgetary funds by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has invited criticism from a parliamentary committee that reviews its performance.
The Ghulam Nabi Azad-headed ministry was found to have utilised only 52.26 per cent of the allocated funds till the third quarter of the financial year of 2012-13, and not taking the parliamentary standing committee’s recommendations seriously.
“Utilisation status of the Eleventh Plan and for 2012-13 reveals inability of the department to utilise the allocated?funds efficiently. During 2012-13, only 52.26 per cent?of allocated funds have been utilised till 31.12.2012, thus leaving the balance to be utilised in the last quarter of?the financial year,” the committee pointed out in its earlier report.
The committee, headed by BSP leader Brijesh Pathak, also noted that issues giving rise to underutlisation have not been addressed in the scheme for the National Programme for Health Care of the Elderly (NPHCE).
Expressing concern over gross underutilisation of funds, the committee earlier asked the ministry to rectify it.??However, the ministry admitted that the entire allocation of `150 crore for the NPHCE could not be utilised due to non-inclusion of 100 new districts and four new Regional Geriatric Centres in 2012-13 as the approval of 12th Plan was not decided.
The ministry told the committee that it has been requesting state governments to accelerate the implementation of the programme. The committee observed that there was a lack of planning for fund utilisation and targets were not properly defined.
The ministry told the committee that of the revised estimates of `100 crore for National Mental Health Programme in 2012-13, the actual expenditure was `51.91 crore only. The ministry pointed out that it could not utilise the funds allocated during 2012-13 due to non-submission of utilisation certificates by the states.??“The committee is dismayed to note that gross under utilisation of allocated funds has become a persistent trend under?this head and that the ministry sought to shift the onus on states for non-submission of utilisation certificates,”?the report said.
Referring to Central Drugs Standard Control Organization, the ministry informed the committee that the underutilisation has primarily been for the reason of fulfilling of unavoidable mandatory requirements of financial propriety and transparency, various financial procedures associated with procurements and associated strict approval process, which take time. “In this process many a time the financial year ends. The concerned work is, therefore, undertaken next year. It has made every effort at optimum utilisation of funds,” the ministry pointed out.
“The reply of the department that the underutilisation of funds has been for the reason of fulfilling of unavoidable mandatory requirement of financial propriety is untenable and reflects poorly on the functioning of the department,” the committee observed.
In its report submitted to Parliament, the committee was surprised by the replies of the ministry. “Instead of furnishing a detailed action reply, the ministry has merely chosen to state ‘noted for compliance’,” the committee said.
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