Budget FY22-23: Nothing exciting, nothing significant

The proposed budget for the FY2022-23 has nothing exciting or significant in it. It has some mere changes but contains nothing visionary or striking.

Every year we see that a new budget pops up with some increased figures than the previous one and it was no exception this time. 

Budget allocation in absolute terms has increased but declined in relative terms. The overall budget has increased by 14.25% but the health budget rose by 12.62%, meaning it has become smaller in relative terms.

Last year, the allocation for health was 5.51% of the total budget, this time it has been reduced to 5.43%.

The budget did not mention how the burgeoning out-of-pocket expenses can be handled. Treatment is being delayed as living cost rises due to inflation. So intervention was needed to ensure proper treatment facilities for people amid inflation. 

Measures should have been taken to prevent the rise in drug prices. Medicines should be made available in government hospitals so that lower and middle-income people get services and medicines at low costs. That way, treatment will not be delayed due to inflation. But there was nothing in the budget speech about this.

The health sector was not taken seriously in the budget. There was no talk of urban health or mental health. Though the establishment of cancer hospitals will help, this proposal is not new this year.

Money is not spent in the health sector because fresh interventions are not taken for the spending. The budget is only slightly increased every year without new interventions. Money is not spent, and people do not get benefits. 

The health sector will improve if new interventions in spending are taken, and people will get health care at a low cost. There is a demand for health allocations, free medicines in government hospitals, and low-cost tests. 

The urban health sector needs funding. Measures should be taken to bring impoverished people under health insurance coverage.

However, the positive side of this year's budget is the proposal to abolish all kinds of tariffs on wheelchairs used by handicapped people and on Zinc-Air batteries used in the hearing aid machine of the hearing impaired people. This is the first time disabled people have been mentioned in the budget. This is good.

[Dr Shafiun Nahin Shimul is an associate professor at the University of Dhaka and a health economist]