Low ADP spending by health authorities
It's hard to justify, especially in a pandemic year, the consistently abysmal performance of the health sector. The latest indictor of this is a revelation about the low Annual Development Programme (ADP) spending by the Health Services Division (HSD). In a report released by the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division of the Planning Ministry—which tracked the status of ADP spending by different ministries and divisions—the health division cut a frustrating figure, unsurprisingly, one may add, as it utilised only 21 percent of its ADP allocations in the nine months of FY 2020-2021. This is some 20 percent less than the average ADP spending (of 41 percent) by other divisions and ministries over the same time period.
According to The Daily Star, in these nine months, the Health Services Division managed to spend only Tk 2,515.54 crore of its total ADP allocation of Tk 11,979.34 crore, making it one of the poorest performing divisions in terms of ADP implementation. The lack of spending suggests a lack of initiative which is totally unacceptable during a pandemic, which has led to increased spending on health services around the world. Bangladesh seems to be walking in the opposite direction. Evidently, it's not spending as much as it should, or as efficiently, as the lacklustre performance of its many health infrastructure projects would show.
The disclosure of the extremely low ADP spending on health, that too in the middle of a health emergency, is a painful reminder of the lack of vision, efficiency, accountability and transparency that has generally characterised the government's Covid-19 response since its outbreak earlier last year. Even now, when the country is suffering from an unprecedented surge in Covid-19 infections and deaths, the government is failing to shake off its laissez-faire attitude to crisis management. Covid-19 patients across the country are struggling to access treatment. People are running around in search of basic health services and facilities. The ill-planned and ill-executed nationwide lockdown has added a new dimension to their sufferings, not to mention the poor and marginalised groups who suddenly found their source of livelihood cut off, leading to immeasurable hardships.
This cannot go on any longer. The government must shed its business-as-usual approach to Covid-19 containment by allowing expert opinion—rather than politico-bureaucratic interest—to guide its policies and initiatives. And it must increase spending on building or procuring necessary health infrastructure and equipment to lessen people's sufferings in accessing proper healthcare. The Health Services Division has a big responsibility here, and it must deliver or be held accountable for its failures. We hope that the importance of increasing health spending will also be reflected in the upcoming national budget.
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