National Budget: Allocate 8pc for health sector
At least 8 percent of the national budget in 2022-23 fiscal should be allocated for the health sector, putting primary healthcare in the heart, speakers at a pre-budget webinar recommended yesterday.
Bangladesh Health Watch, Brac James P Grant School of Public Health of Brac University, and Unnayan Somonnoy organised the dialogue.
Dr Atiur Rahman, former governor of Bangladesh Bank and president of Unnayan Somonnoy, presented the keynote at the event.
"Majority of healthcare seekers go to healthcare centres for primary health care. So, allocation for this segment should be as much as 30 percent of the total health budget," he said.
Currently, around 25 percent of health budget is spent for primary health care, while 39 percent for secondary health care and 36 percent for tertiary health care.
He said the budget size of 2022-23 fiscal is forecasted to be Tk 6,78,000 crore, which is 15.4 percent of the GDP, while it is 17.5 percent of the GDP in current fiscal.
He opined that if the government allocation for medicine is increased by three-fold, the health expenditures borne by patients can be decreased to 58 percent from 68.5 percent currently.
Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury, founder of Gonosasthaya Kendra, said investing Tk 10 crore in each union health sub-centre can bring a revolutionary change in health care. "We can easily engage medical students for this," he said, in addition to focusing on ensuring medicine at a cheaper cost.
Lawmaker Dr Pran Gopal Dutta stressed on strengthening capacity of drug administration to ensure medicine quality.
Lawmaker and former health minister Dr AFM Ruhul Haque stressed on introducing patient referral system urgently to make the best use of existing health workforce.
Lawmaker Dr Habib-E-Millat said, "We need five lakh physicians. But we have only one lakh. It is not possible to ensure proper health care with this manpower."
Health experts Dr Julfikar Ali and Dr Mushtuq Hussain stressed on the expansion of health insurance coverage countrywide.
Dr Syed Abdul Hamid, professor of health economics at Dhaka University, said, "There are lackings in proper and effective health procurement, which should be addressed properly."
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