Health sector gets priority in the budget for 2020-21

The Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has proposed an allocation of Tk29,247 crore for the health services and health education in the budget presented in the parliament today for the fiscal year 2020-2021.
 
The health budget this year has been hiked by 23.44 percent from the revised budget of Tk23,692 crore for the fiscal year 2019-20.
 
The allocation has been increased, keeping in mind that part of the fund will be spent on dealing with the pandemic, said the Finance Minister. 
 
Apart from that, the government has proposed Tk10,000 crore to be kept aside as "lump sum" amount to deal with any emergency health crisis and meet the healthcare needs in the fight against the Covid19 pandemic.
 
An Integrated Health-Science Research and Development Fund of Tk100 crore has also been proposed to help develop research in the health-education and science technology sectors.
 
A "high-powered" committee will be formed comprising expert physicians, nutritionists, public health and sociologists to ensure proper and effective use of the fund. Health economists, environmentalists and civil society members will also be engaged.  
 
"It is worth mentioning that currently 13 ministries and divisions are implementing programmes related to health and family welfare," said the finance minister.  
 
In total, as much as Tk41,027 crore will be allocated for the public health sector for the next fiscal year, which is 1.3 percent of the Gross Domestic Product and 7.2 percent of the total budget.