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The proposed national budget for 2026-27 fiscal year has doubled the allocation for the health sector of Tk 694.09 billion in comparison to this fiscal with crossing 1.0 per cent of GDP.
The finance minister proposed an allocation of Tk 694.09 billion for the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in the fiscal year 2026–27, equivalent to 1.02 per cent of GDP.
In the revised budget for fiscal year 2025-26, the allocation for this sector was Tk 354 billion representing 0.58 per cent of GDP.
In his budget speech, the minister said that building a healthy nation is the prerequisite for sustainable development and a prosperous Bangladesh. However, years of neglect, corruption, political interference, and a lack of accountability have left the country’s health sector weak and dysfunctional.
During the fascist era, a large portion of the expenditure on unplanned infrastructure construction and procurement of equipment in the health sector was plundered through corruption — which is why the quality of healthcare never improved.
In the next five years, total health sector allocations will be 5.0 per cent of GDP ensuring that no poor family is ruined by the cost of medical treatment is a responsibility of the state.
One modern primary healthcare unit in each union and one or more in each ward of urban areas throughout Bangladesh, and implementation is already underway.
Under universal health coverage, every citizen will be issued a modern “Health Card”, linked to an Integrated Patient Management System and an Integrated Patient Referral System.
To produce skilled, humane, and modern physicians, necessary reforms will be introduced in the existing MBBS curriculum.
The Government aims to introduce a new, modern, competency-based, and future-oriented MBBS curriculum by 2030.
Steps have been taken to establish five modern training centres utilising existing but underused infrastructure. And, special fiscal and tax incentives will be provided to export-oriented firms alongside various existing customs and duty benefits.