TIB raises concern above insufficient allocation for health
The Transparency International Bangladesh has expressed concern for devoid of sufficient allocation in the next budget for critical sectors, including health, to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.
Similarly, it also raised concern over having less a sharp roadmap to ensure transparency and prevention of corruption in the entire budget implementation.
The anti-graft body also urged the government to ensure transparency and prevent corruption in implementation of the budget.
It, nevertheless, applauded the government's decision of not keeping any scope to whiten black profit the budget.
It seems like the government has truly gone through some kind of enlightenment since it has refrained from renewing the scope for whitening of black money, that was introduced amid serious criticism earlier, TIB Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman said found in a statement.
He said they would like to think that the authorities will respect the primary minister's stance of 'zero tolerance against corruption' and can not allow this unethical gain to continue ultimately even if they deal with any legal scrutiny or pressure from any vested one fourth.
He stressed the necessity for announcing a spending budget, which is participatory, may make certain welfare of the persons and will save lives.
"In the proposed budget for 2021-22 fiscal yr, the allocation for medical sector has been risen to Tk 33,000 crore-which is about 7 per cent of the full total budget- but it continues to be much less than what's needed."
In line with the latest data from the World Overall health Organisation, 74 % of treatment expense is borne by the patients and 26 % by the government, which is a shame designed for Bangladesh since a signatory to the UN Universal Declaration of Wellbeing, Iftekharuzzaman said.
"Again, because of persistent corruption and a lack of fair spending ability, there exists a strong risk that allocation will not be spent properly, that there is no very clear roadmap in the price range, which is disappointing. However, there is no alternative to reorganising medical sector in recent years to curb the unimaginable and skyrocketing corruption."
Although he applauded the government's investment in vaccination activities to avoid the transmission of Covid-19 in the united states and the allocation of Tk 10,000 crore to fight the coronavirus, Iftekharuzzaman said, "This allocation is not enough to manage coronavirus. In this instance, the process of spending money should be done with transparency and it ought to be ensured that corruption in the health sector shouldn't take good thing about it at all."
Similarly, the federal government is expected to follow a transparent procurement process and prioritise the general public interest in procuring vaccine for coronavirus, he added.
He also commented that the taxes exemption for a decade is a good timely decision to improve the scope of hospital services beyond your city. This will create opportunities to ensure quality healthcare in rural areas, he said.
Expressing concern over the news of allocation around 60 % of the full total proposed budget in the underdeveloped sector, Iftekharuzzaman said, "Considering the corona (Covid-19) truth, the government was likely to reduce unnecessary expenditure and make realistic allocations to the emergency services sector.
"But regarding the total allocation, open public administration received the fourth highest allocation (7.6 per cent) and when defence expenditure was added with that, the total amount exceeded about 14 %. Although the allocation increased every year, the lack of effective strategies to be sure transparency and accountability together with improve the efficiency of open public administration is usually disappointing," he said.
