kochi health is wealth but once again not enough money is allotted to the health sector the covid19 pandemic has exposed the loopholes in our health system and it was expected that the last budget of the pinarayi government would focus on strengthening the overall healthcare sector in the stateunfortunately that has not happened the total amount allotted to the health sector is just 1 of the gdp in the postcovid scenario we expected this to change most of the promises made in the budget are old wine in new bottles said gopikumar p secretary ima kerala chapterthe plan budget for the health sector in 202122 is rs 2341 crore this includes rs 811 crore from the national health mission in the last budget rs 2440 crore was allocated for urban health services and rs 94 crore for rural health serviceson the bright side the government has promised free covid immunization but the catch is that there is still not much clarity on the covid19 vaccine programme and most of the immunization programme is done by the central government and not the state governmentit is very good to know that the karunya scheme which covers more than 41 lakh of people shall be actively continued with insurance support it is good to see that 4000 new posts shall be created for the health sector from primary care to medical colleges said azad moopen founder chairman and managing director aster dm healthcare however no money has not been allotted for the creation of the 4000 new postspublic health experts said that covid has shown that public hospitals have to work in tandem with private hospitals in future to ensure that healthcare needs of people are met effectively but the budget is silent over the measures that should be taken to help small and medium private hospitals which are struggling for survival in covid timessmall and medium private hospitals are the backbone of keralas health sector the budget focuses on creating job opportunities and setting up new businesses but nothing has been done to save existing jobs and establishments this is unfortunate said hussain koya thangal president of kerala private hospital association kpha