The Kerala State Budget for 2026-27, presented by Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal in the Assembly on Thursday (January 29, 2026), prioritises health and accident insurance; takes the first step towards addressing adult immunisation and looks at a new initiative focussed on women’s health by setting aside funds (₹3 crore) for starting menopause clinics in district hospitals.
The Finance Minister announced in his Budget speech that the Plan allocation for the medical-care and public-health sector has been significantly increased to ₹2,500.31 crore, which is ₹350.12 crore (16.28%) more than the allocation for the previous year. However, more clarity is needed on this claim of increase in allocation, because in the Budget speech of 2025-26, Mr. Balagopal had announced an allocation of ₹2,915.49 crore for the medical and public health sector.
The mortality and morbidity due to influenza and pneumococcal infections are high in elderly, immunocompromised and in those with comorbidities. Kerala is making a new beginning by taking on adult immunisation, a totally neglected sector, by offering to vaccinate those above 60 years in the below-the-poverty line category against pneumococcal diseases, for which an allocation of ₹50 crore has been made.
Accredited Social Health Activists, who agitated for over a year on the streets, seeking an enhanced honorarium, will get a monthly hike of ₹1,000.
The Minister also announced that ₹50 crore was being earmarked for extending health insurance cover to the “missing middle,” or families which are outside the purview of KASP (which caters to the poor) but cannot afford to buy health insurance either. The catch, however, is that this scheme is not being offered entirely free of cost, but a premium will be collected from the beneficiaries.
An amount of ₹14.20 crore has been allocated for starting dialysis units in taluk hospitals which currently do not have this facility.
Mr. Balagopal also set aside ₹900 crore towards Karunya Arogya Suraksha Padhathi (KASP). However, clearly, this would hardly be enough as the scheme is already grappling with a huge outstanding payment arrears of previous years. He also set aside ₹606.50 crore towards Karunya Benevolent Scheme which provides treatment benefits up to ₹3 lakh to 77,608 families outside the criteria of KASP.
Digital health mission
Thiruvananthapuram Government Medical College has been allocated ₹12 crore for installing a surgical robot to help aid medical education and learning surgical precision. Kerala Digital Health Mission gets ₹27.60 crore. An amount of ₹22 crore is earmarked for hospital waste management in medical college hospitals. An amount of ₹12 crore has been set aside for the containment of communicable diseases and ₹13 crore for the prevention of non-communicable diseases.
Pain-Palliative-Elderly Health Care Centres get an allocation of ₹5 crore. An amount of ₹13 crore is earmarked for developing the facilities in hospitals and health-care institutions in tribal, coastal and isolated areas. The allocation for medical colleges under the Directorate of Medical Education is ₹259.93 crore. New medical colleges in Idukki, Konni, Wayanad and Kasaragod have been earmarked ₹57.09 crore for development.
Published – January 29, 2026 05:48 pm IST
