Health Minister Sakhawat highlights Bangladesh’s record health budget to UK delegation
Health Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Husain told a UK parliamentary delegation that Bangladesh has allocated its highest-ever budget for the health sector this fiscal year. He also briefed them on the measles and dengue situation, ongoing health sector work and plans to expand healthcare services.
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In a Nutshell
- Sakhawat Husain made the remarks during a meeting with UK MPs Monica Harding, Alan Gemmell and Rt David Mundell at the Bangladesh Secretariat on Sunday.
- He said the government has allocated the highest-ever budget for the health sector this fiscal year.
- The FY2026 to 27 budget allocated Tk69,409 crore to health, nearly twice the revised Tk35,477 crore allocation for FY2025 to 26 and about 1.01 per cent of GDP.
- Sakhawat briefed the delegation on the measles and dengue situations and the measures being taken to control them.
- The two sides discussed the health sectors of Bangladesh and the UK, as well as ongoing activities and future plans.
- Sakhawat also highlighted government development activities and initiatives aimed at improving access to healthcare.
Context
The Tk69,409 crore allocation was announced in June, alongside the government’s plan to expand healthcare at the grassroots level. It announced the immediate recruitment of 5,000 doctors and 100,000 additional health workers, while also planning to upgrade around 500 upazila health complexes into 150-bed hospitals.
Six months into the government’s term, the Health Ministry said the first 20,000 of the planned health worker recruitments were being initiated. It also began developing an e-health card system, with a pilot planned this year and a target of providing every citizen with a digital health card by 2028.
The ministry’s response to the measles outbreak has also exposed the manpower gap behind these plans. State Minister for Health MA Muhit said 15,000 of the roughly 40,000 health workers needed for the vaccination campaign were vacant positions. The campaign eventually vaccinated more than 1.8 crore children, but the government later found that its initial target had underestimated the number of children in need of vaccination.
Why It Matters
The record budget comes after years in which Bangladesh has spent relatively little public money on healthcare. Public health spending was only 0.40 per cent of GDP in 2021, while people still pay roughly 73 per cent of total health costs out of pocket.
The government now has a much larger health budget to work with, but the ministry has also acknowledged that previous development allocations were often underused because of bureaucratic and implementation problems.
The workforce gap is another major constraint. Adding beds, expanding hospitals, and buying equipment will not improve services if there are not enough doctors, nurses and other staff to operate them.
What We Think
State Minister for Health MA Muhit has said the government will not repeat the previous Awami government’s practice of adding hospital beds and buying equipment without first ensuring the manpower to run them.
That is a positive shift in the right direction. If the increased health budget is allocated properly and the workforce is brought in alongside the new facilities, the government has a real opportunity to address some of Bangladesh’s longstanding healthcare gaps.