It is encouraging to note that Bangladesh has accorded the health sector the highest priority in the national budget for FY 2020-21. Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has proposed raising the allocation for the health services to Tk29,247 crore in the next fiscal year to deal with the impacts of the novel coronavirus.
A lump sum of Tk 10,000 crore has also been proposed to fulfill emergency requirements in response to the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak. This was indeed more of a necessity as more and more people in the country are affected by the coronavirus and need essential services, from testing kits to ICUs, to curb the infection and death rate.
The current health crisis that the country is going through and the country's incompetency and lack of capability to tackle this crisis is the accumulated result of decades.
It is time to see how the health sector copes
with the rapid increase in Covid-19 infections
with the increased budget
Our tottering health system is on the verge of a collapse, with hospitals being overwhelmed and patients being refused life-saving treatment.
Right now, we need more ICUs, ventilators, hospital beds and isolation units, more health workers and PPEs for them. Now it is time to see how the health sector copes with the rapid increase in Covid-19 infections with the increased budget.
However, witnessing the shocking deficiency of our health sector in this testing time, we can say that the increase in heath budget is inadequate. Our healthcare sector has long been in dire straits and the only way to improve it by a degree that will make some difference is through massive government investment.
The experience in tackling the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed a number of weaknesses in our health sector. It is time to ensure a better healthcare system for the citizens of Bangladesh by improving the country’s public health services.
This ongoing pandemic has uncovered the importance of improving our health sector. Health is one of the basic needs of people.
A healthy nation means a healthy workforce that can add fuel to the economic progress of a country like Bangladesh. Therefore, we hope the government will continue the trend of increasing focus on the health sector in future.