Eighty percent of the budget allocated for the national health insurance scheme Aasandha has already been exhausted.
The state budget has allocated MVR 1 billion for Aasandha this year.
According to the Finance Ministry, MVR 807 million has been spent on Aasandha thus far this year as of April 20. This is MVR 300 million more than the Aasandha expenditure during the same period last year. MVR 507 million was spent on Aasandha during the same period last year.
While heavy expenditure has been incurred from the Aasandha budget during the first four months of the year, the budget allocated for the national health insurance scheme last year was exhausted by mid-year. The budget allocated for Aasandha last year was MVR 730.9 million. After it was exhausted, the government proposed a supplementary budget to increase the budget by MVR 906.7 million. Therefore, last year's Aasandha budget was MVR 1.6 billion with the supplementary budget. However, at the end of last year, the expenditure exceeded even the supplementary budget, with the total rising to MVR 1.8 billion.
The World Bank has recommended cutting spending on healthcare and subsidies.
