Nasim wants more for health care

Health budget in the next fiscal year would be about Tk 11,000 crore, which is nearly Tk 2,000 crore more than that of current fiscal year, said Health and Family Welfare Minister Mohammed Nasim yesterday.
“This is not enough. Health budget should be more, because we need to build more infrastructure, more beds in the hospitals to provide better health care,” he said.
The minister was addressing a press conference in the secretariat to inform about the outcomes from his attending the General Health Assembly in Geneva during May 19-24.
Nasim earlier had told various meetings and seminars that he would bargain with the finance minister for increasing the health budget.
But, allocation of the health budget compared to the national budget of 2014-15 would be less than 4.5 percent, which is now 4.27 percent.
On his achievements in Geneva, he said the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted a Dhaka-sponsored resolution on neuro-developmental disorders. “As a result, it has become mandatory for the WHO to provide technical and financial help to prevent autism in the developing countries,” he told reporters.
The appointment of global autism advocate Saima Wazed Hossain, daughter of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, as an expert of WHO's expert advisory panel on mental health is a great success, he said.
The minister said he focused on Bangladesh's health risks emerging out of climatic change, and sought help of the developed countries to address the challenges.
During a bilateral meeting with the minister, Global Fund has assured Bangladesh of providing 150 million dollars to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, he said.
Health Secretary MM Neazuddin, Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services Dr Deen Mohammad Noorul Haque and other officials of the health ministry were present.