Health fails to win Muhith’s heart

Finance Minister AMA Muhith has reduced the health budget slightly in percentage of allocation while presenting the government’s plan for massive recruitment under the health and family welfare ministry in the election year.

As the total size of the budget grew more than 16 percent than the original budget of the outgoing fiscal year, the absolute amount of the health sector allocation has also increased to Tk 233.83 billion from Tk 206.51 billion in the outgoing fiscal year.

But comparing the percentage of the allocation in each sector, the health allocation was reduced to 5 percent from 5.2 percent.

“Our goal in the health sector is to ensure affordable and quality health and family welfare services for all,” he said.

Muhith said alongside, infrastructure development, the government has started the process of recruiting for 9,792 doctors in two phases to ensure that the health services reach to the rural people.

Steps have also been taken to recruit additional 4,000 senior nurses to bring the doctor-nurse ratio at 2:1, he said.

“Besides, we have finalised the recruitment of 600 midwives with an aim to bring birth time child and maternal mortality rates to zero by 2021. Over and above, we have a plan to establish one medical college by turn in each division to upgrade the standard of health services.”

Muhith said the government is also operating programmes like recruitment of homeopathic, unani and ayurvedic doctors, plantation of medicinal trees and creating herbal gardens to popularise the practices of alternative medicine.

For realising the “rationale for quality services” to the patients and ensuring “professional safeguard” for the doctors, he said they are bringing reforms in the legal framework.

Bangladesh is formulating the Medical Services Act by repealing the Medical Practice and Private Clinics and Laboratories (Regulation) Ordinance 1982.

In addition, the Mental Health Act is going to be formulated to provide mental health safeguard and providing mental health services to them.