The government will allocate Tk 41,908 crore for the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in the upcoming fiscal year 2025-26, marking a modest increase aimed at strengthening the country’s healthcare system.

Finance Advisor Salehuddin Ahmed presented the proposed budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year in a speech broadcast by state-run BTV on Monday.

In the budget of FY2024-25, the allocation was Tk 41,407 crore.

In the budget speech the Finance Adviser said building a healthy, strong and productive population by providing affordable and quality health, nutrition and family welfare services to people is a prerequisite for national development.

He said to bring all the citizens under universal health coverage by 2030, special emphasis has been given on expanding the scope of services, infrastructure development and recruitment of skilled human resources.

To fill the vacancies in the health sector, the recruitment of doctors, nurses, technicians, pharmacists and health assistants has been accelerated, and an integrated plan has been taken to create necessary posts. Initiatives have been taken to recruit, said the adviser.

The Finance Adviser said to harness the benefits of demographic dividend and build a prosperous Bangladesh through the development and planned management of the population, the ‘Bangladesh Population Policy 2025’ is being formulated by updating the existing population policy.

Besides, the formulation of the ‘Bangladesh National Family Planning Strategy Paper 2025-2030’ is in the final stage to achieve zero maternal deaths that are preventable and zero gender-based violence by 2030, he added.