There will be no allocation for Covid response in the next financial year as the government thinks the situation is currently well under control. Besides, the government is aiming to boost development activities in the health sector.
Sources in the Finance Ministry said there will be an allocation of Tk35,050 crore for the health sector in the budget of the next fiscal year (2023-24). This is Tk5,429 crore more than the previous year.
Besides, Tk7,200 crore was reduced from the original allocation in the revised budget of the current fiscal year.
It has been learned that the potential size of the budget in the next fiscal year will be Tk7.64 lakh crore. Therefore, the total allocation for the health sector is about 4.59% of the budget.
According to ministry sources, there will be various activities for the development of the health sector in the light of the perspective plan, national health policy and eighth five-year plan in the next budget. High investment in medical services and higher training will be given importance in the budget.
Besides, training of medical college teachers, basic and practical research infrastructure in medical science and research activities will get priority in the allocation.
Apart from this, there will also be instructions to keep the cost of education within the reach of the people, modernization of nursing education, development of nursing colleges, establishment of medical universities, and conversion of nursing institutes into nursing colleges.
Besides, various initiatives will be taken for family welfare, and to protect mother and child health.
The first, second and third waves of the Covid pandemic swept across the country between 2020 and 2022. During this time, the health sector was strengthened to protect livelihoods and foster activities relating to economic recovery.
However, in the next financial year, development activities in the health sector are being given more priority, because such activities received less attention while dealing with the pandemic. Besides, emphasis will be given to ensuring the quality of services at private medical colleges, medical education and training institutes.
To manage these activities, the total development sector under the Health Ministry is likely to get Tk15,463 crore. It is Tk3,199 crore more than the allocation of the outgoing fiscal year.
Experts said that as most of the projects are run by doctors, the problem of spending money wisely remains a hot topic in the health sector every year.
These project managers lack expertise and experience in spending money, said experts. They suggested that the project directors get the responsibility of spending money in the health sector as they are more experienced.
In the post-Covid period, emphasis is being given to the recruitment of manpower for vacant posts in various hospitals, medical centres and medical colleges. This is because the government witnessed a shortage of manpower in these institutes during the pandemic. As a result, the allocation of salary and allowances will be increased in the management sector as well.
In the outgoing fiscal year, Tk5,000 crore was allocated for the purchase of vaccines which was double the previous year.
Asked about this, Health Minister Zahid Malek said: “The allocation of the budget in the health sector is increasing each year. No doubt, people will get more services in the coming year.”
