ADP spending still low despite pandemic lesson
Just two years back when the pandemic arose, Bangladesh's healthcare sector faced a dreadful situation with its inadequate equipment and infrastructural facilities.
Experts and stakeholders have since been vehemently calling for raising budgetary allocation.
However, in spite of receiving the 5th biggest allocation under the annual development programme (ADP), Health Services Division has been lagging behind in utilising the money in the first five months of fiscal year 2022-23.
Experts reason, among others, a lack of capacity and skilled manpower.
The division was able to spend only Tk 1,184 crore, or 7.5 per cent, of its Tk 15,779 crore allocation from July to November, according to a recently released report of the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED).
Besides, the division is also lagging behind the average implementation rate of 18.41 per cent, or Tk 47,122 crore, of the period's total ADP allocation for all the 56 ministries and divisions.
In spite of receiving the 5th biggest allocation under the annual development programme, Health Services Division has been lagging behind in utilising the money in the first five months of fiscal 2022-23
The procurement process has just started and will be reflected in documents soon, Mohammed Shahadat Husain, additional secretary (audit and financial management unit wing) to the division, told The Daily Star yesterday.
Contractors are paid once contracts are fulfilled and many took up their contracts late, which is one of the major reasons, he said.
However, Professor Bazlul Haque Khandker of the University of Dhaka, termed it a "historical problem".
"Every year, we see that the health services sector cannot utilise its total fund. Usually, they spend around 70 per cent to 80 per cent of their total allocation," he said.
Last fiscal year 2021-22, the implementation rate was 79 per cent, according to an IMED report.
On the slow progress in the past five months, Khandker said, "It's not a satisfactory situation. When we need to spend around 2 per cent to 3 per cent of the country's total gross domestic product, the sector could hardly spend its allocation."
The size of Bangladesh's GDP stood at $465 billion in fiscal year 2021-22, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.
The problems the authorities stated to have faced should be solved on a priority basis, said Khandker, who is also the chairman of the think tank South Asian Network of Economic Modeling.
To reap the highest benefits of demographic dividend, Bangladesh needs to focus on healthcare services as the number of geriatric persons would increase soon, he added.
Meanwhile, Husain claimed, "Hopefully, the figure will dramatically change in the next two months. I, myself, am also a project director whose project's progress is 22 per cent."
Around 54 big and small projects are underway under the division, including COVID-19 related ones.
Husain said Health and Family Welfare Minister Zahid Maleque also asked all wings to implement their project within the deadlines.
Among the 15 biggest allocation recipients, the bridges division was able to spend 38.81 per cent of what it received.
It was followed suit by the Ministry of Housing and Public Works (29.62 per cent) and power division (26.93 per cent), according to the IMED report.
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