Considering the health sector as a priority, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Thursday proposed an allocation of Taka 36,863 crore for the Health and Family Welfare sector in the next fiscal year 2022-2023 which was Taka 32,731 crore in the fiscal year 2021-2022.
He said the allocation is meant for the overall development of the sector.
While placing the budget for the next fiscal year, the finance minister said, "You are aware that since early 2020, the whole world has been passing through an unprecedented global crisis due to several waves of the COVID-19."
The health hazard still existed up until early 2022, he said, adding Bangladesh is continuously putting efforts to protect lives and recover the economy by revamping the health sector.
Considering the impact of the COVID-19 on public health, the COVID protocol is still being strictly observed, precautionary measures are being taken, plans are being formulated and adequate budget is being allocated to overcome the weakness of the health sector, Kamal added.
The purchase of vaccines on time and the mass vaccination of the population in a phased manner are among the key actions that have been taken by the government, he added.
"As a result, the spread of the virus has come under control and we have been able to reduce the death rate to a great extent compared to other countries. At the same time, the government has been able to protect lives and livelihoods by attaching priority to the health and family- welfare sector through adoption of medium and long-term plans," the finance minister added.
The finance minister said among the six priority sectors for development mentioned in the 8th Five Year Plan, the most significant are - 'Rapid Recovery from COVID-19 to Restore Human Health, Confidence, Employment, Income and Economic Activities'.
By giving the highest priority to this agenda, he said, the government is trying to boost up the confidence level of the people by strengthening the public health system, creating job opportunities by keeping economic activities normal.
At the same time, the government is continuously trying and taking initiatives to increase productivity, Kamal said, adding strengthening the health sector is the government's top priority sector in the medium and long-term plans for development.
In the second Perspective Plan (2021-2041), the government has a target to achieve development in various indicators of the health sector including the increase of the life expectancy to 80 years, he added.
Following the National Health Policy 2011, various strategies are being taken up to ensure quality health services for the people of all strata in the society, the finance minister said.
These include, among others, the adoption of the 4th Health, Population and Nutrition Sector Programme and the formulation of the Healthcare Financing Strategy (2012-2032), Kamal added.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, he said, the government has set a unique example by preparing the vaccine strategy, allocating sufficient resources to procure vaccines and successfully completing the vaccination program covering all eligible populations in a phased manner.
"The National Deployment and Vaccination Plan (NDVP) under the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) has been prepared and updated. The government has procured vaccines from the COVAX Cost Sharing Facility and through bilateral contracts from the manufacturers in India and China," Kamal said.
Free doses have been received through the global COVAX initiative and from the United States and other bilateral partners, he added.
During the first two years of the pandemic and in the ongoing fiscal year, the government has received budget support assistance and vaccine financing from numerous bilateral and multilateral development partners including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), International Monetary Fund (IMF), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Agence FranOaise de D,veloppement (AFD), Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF, Korea), European Investment Bank (EIB) and OPEC Fund Development (OFID).
The finance minister said these external assistances helped the government to improve the capacity of health and other key social sectors.
Following the declaration made by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the government is implementing the vaccination programme for all citizens of the country at free of cost, Kamal added.
"At the initial stage, 80 percent of the total population was planned to be vaccinated, but later the target was reduced to 70 percent as per the guidelines of WHO. In the earlier stage, the people who were under health-hazard risk were vaccinated on a priority basis. Later, all populations above 12 years of age have been included for vaccination. Government hospitals and health facilities were used as vaccination centers," he said.
The vaccination of the first doses started on 08 February 2021 and the second doses started on 08 April 2021. Later, the booster doses, approved by the WHO, was administered. While conducting the vaccination programme the gender balance has been ensured.
So far, a total of 12.9 crore first doses, 11.8 crore second doses and 1.5 crore booster doses have been administered, Kamal said.
The government is laying emphasis on how to combat such a complex pandemic situation as we experienced during COVID-19, Kamal said, adding to this end, the government is planning to develop the capacity to respond and control such pandemic quickly, conduct research in this sector and develop the institutional capacity, technical knowledge and skilled manpower to up-scale the overall capacity.
In the last two fiscal years, sufficient budget has been allocated to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to implement the important activities to combat COVID-19 and for the development of the health sector, he added.
"To meet any emergency expenditure, we earmarked Taka 10 thousand crore as block allocation. Although the infection of COVID-19 coronavirus has reduced drastically, the fear of its reappearance still persists as the outbreak of COVID-19 is still evident in many countries. Bearing in mind the COVID-19 related health hazards, we are also proposing a block allocation of Tk 5 thousand crore for the coming fiscal year," Kamal said.
Some of the projects taken in the last fiscal year to combat COVID-19 will continue in the next fiscal year, he added.
He said 'COVID-19 Emergency Response and Pandemic Preparedness' project is being implemented with support from the World Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and the 'COVID-19 Response Emergency Assistance' project is being implemented with the help of the Asian Development Bank.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has given the directives to establish a high-quality institute in the country for manufacturing all types of vaccines including that for coronavirus, Kamal added. Accordingly, the 100 percent state-owned Essential Drugs Company has taken steps to set up a state-of-the-art vaccine manufacturing plant, at Gopalganj, with financial and technical assistance from the Asian Development Bank.
"We will eventually transform this plant into an international standard vaccine research and production center so that we do not rely on overseas sources for vaccines," the finance minister said.
"We have started a screening system including the formulation of a guideline for medication and control of non-infectious diseases like high blood pressure, cancer, diabetes and kidney related diseases. The non-infectious disease related information has been incorporated into the Management Information System (MIS) software of the Health Directorate," he added.
"A Venom center of very high quality has been established at Chattogram Medical College. Bangladesh has achieved remarkable success in eradication of infectious diseases. We are at the point of eradication of diseases like Filaria and Visceral Leishmaniasis," Kamal added.
The government has set up a target to make Bangladesh free from Malaria by 2030. The government is also working relentlessly to control the diseases carried by Aedes mosquitoes especially Dengue and Chikungunya through a programme since January 2017, he said.
"Chikungunya management guideline has been formulated. National Dengue Guideline has been formulated and diagnosis charges at the hospitals have been reduced. Remarkable success has been achieved in the treatment of Rabies and worm- related diseases. For timely initiatives taken by the government, the infection rate of AIDS is below 0.01 in Bangladesh. HIV testing and counseling service is being provided in 28 hospitals," Kamal said.
The government is continuously working for autism and autistic children. In the meantime, 1.33 lakh autistic children have been given treatment. Child Development Centre has been established in 16 Medical College Hospitals including the Dhaka Shishu Hospital.
According to the election manifesto of the government, 100- bed cancer units are being established in 8 Divisional Hospitals. Moreover, the implementation of the project to establish 50-bed dialysis unit at medical college hospitals and 10-bed dialysis unit at district hospitals is underway.
"We have started establishing Burn Units at Rajshahi, Sylhet, Barishal, Rangpur and Faridpur Medical Colleges under a project with the support from Saudi Government. Besides, for the management of medical waste at the district level and Medical College Hospitals, the implementation of the 'Medical Waste Management' project is underway. The implementation of the feasibility study project to rebuild and transform Dhaka Medical College Hospital into 5,000 bed modern world-class hospital is well in progress. In addition, the project for the development and expansion of Pabna Mental Hospital to international standards and the establishment of full-fledged mental health unit at every divisional level medical college are going to be taken up. We have planned to establish Bangabandhu Health City at Mohakhali," Kamal added.
The finance minister said, adding, "You are aware that the government is firmly committed to build a healthy, energetic and active nation by providing quality health, nutrition and family welfare (HNP) services as part of its constitutional obligations. To meet this obligation, a range of activities are being implemented under Health, Nutrition and Population Sector Programme (4th HNPSP). Besides, Bangladesh has demonstrated remarkable success in achieving the targets of MDG goals by bringing all people under primary health care service. We are fully convinced that, given the success, we achieved while implementing the task to achieve MDGs goals we will be able to achieve the targets of SDG by 2030."
"It has also been planned to do so in 15 more Medical College Hospitals and 9 District Hospitals. For the safety and development of the autistic children Tk. 1 crore and 30 lakh has been allocated during COVID-19 and we will also allocate sufficient budget in the next fiscal year. The work is going on to establish new 211 centres in addition to the existing 103 centres to provide Therapeutic services to the disabled people in the remote areas of the country. Moreover, the disabled people and who are at risk of disability are getting Therapeutic services by 40 mobile therapy vans in remote areas of the country," he said.
To achieve 'Universal Health Care Coverage' steps have been taken to formulate 'Health Protection Law' and 'Infection Protection Guideline' has been prepared for the community clinics. 'Government Outdoor Dispensary Operational Guideline' has already been finalised and under this guideline at least 8 Government Outdoor Dispensaries (GoD) will start functioning in the next fiscal year.
"We are implementing various development activities in health, nutrition and population sector according to the Perspective Plan, National Health Policy and 8th Five Year Plan. As part of it, much importance is being given to higher investment and higher training in medical education. Confronting all the challenges to achieve our targets we will give priority to activities such as bringing all the Post- Graduate Medical Education Degrees under one platform, modernization of examination system, continuous training of the teachers, giving more emphasis on research by the medical education teachers and developing the quality of education in non-government sector," Kamal said.
The government is continuously trying to ensure quality service at non-government medical colleges, medical education and training institutions, to keep the education expenses within the reach of the population, to modernize of nursing education and to keep it updated according to the need of the country.
He said, adding, "In order to form a base for fundamental and action research in the medical science sector in the country and to use this knowledge in health service, health education, public health, microbiology, pathology and disease control sector, we created an 'Integrated Health-Science Research and Development Fund' of Tk. 100 crore. To use this fund properly 'Integrated Health-Science Research and Development Fund Use Guidelines 2020' has been prepared and according to this guideline a national level committee has been formed. In the current fiscal year, a total of 23 researchers/research institutions have been selected for starting their research tasks. An amount of Tk 100 crore will also be allocated to this fund in the next fiscal year."
The finance minister said, "We have taken up various priority-based activities for the development of mother and child health under the 4th sector programme. This includes the training of the doctors on maternity health care services, the training of the field-level workers on 'community-based skilled birth attendant', providing integrated service for the pregnant women, the expansion of the 'Mother Health Voucher Scheme', the early detection of cervical and breast cancer."
The government has introduced a three-year Midwifery Course and created 3,000 Midwife posts. Recruitment against the newly created posts is going on. 'The Development of Child and Mother Health and Health Management System' project is being implemented. Now the Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric Care Service is being provided in all medical college hospitals of the country, in 59 Zilla hospitals, in 132 Upazila Health Complexes throughout the country, and in the rest of the Upazila Health Complexes the "Basic Emergency Obstetrics Service' is also available.
A 200-bed Mother and Child Health Training Institution has been set up at Lalkuthi, Dhaka. Kamal said, adding, "To expand health service up to the grass-root level of the country we have established 102 10-bed Mother and Child Welfare Centre at Union level, and another 57 centres are under construction. The government is working to provide adolescent health service. For this, 'Adolescent Friendly Health Service Corner' has been set up in 1103 service centres. For proper physical and mental development of the adolescents, service and information are being provided through 603 'Adolescent Friendly Health Corner' at Union Health and Family Welfare Centres and at Mother and Child Welfare Centres."
Source: BSS