The Yunus-Nurjahan duo spent only 17% of the Tk 45,000 crore allocated to the health sector in the 24-25 fiscal year.

Staff Correspondent

Dhaka, 11 May 2026: Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government had allocated Tk 45,517 crore for the health sector in the 2024-25 fiscal year. But the interim government’s chief advisor Professor Muhammad Yunus and health advisor Nurjahan have spent only Tk 8,098 crore (17.79 percent) of this huge amount. Health sector stakeholders believe that this extreme austerity has led to a severe shortage of life-saving vaccines and medicines, including measles vaccines, across the country.

Sources in the Ministry of Health said that during the interim government’s tenure, not a single taka was spent on purchasing life-saving vaccines, distributing free vaccines and procuring essential medicines. As a result, the outbreak of preventable diseases including measles in children has increased in various districts and upazilas of the country. The common people have been suffering immensely as the stocks of essential medicines in hospitals and health centers have run out.

A large portion of the health sector allocation in the 2024-25 fiscal year was in the development and management sector. But the interim government’s time was spent mainly in the following sectors:

Personnel and operational costs (salaries, maintenance): The bulk of the expenditure went here. While this helped to keep day-to-day administrative activities running, there was very little progress on new development work.

Development Projects (ADP): A significant portion of the allocation remains unused. Implementation of ongoing hospital construction, equipment procurement, and infrastructure development projects has slowed down drastically.

Vaccines and Medicines: Zero expenditure in this sector. No money was spent on the National Immunization Program (EPI) and free supply of essential medicines. Operating expenditure was the main component of the total expenditure of the healthcare department, while the share of development expenditure was negligible.

Sources said that during the Sheikh Hasina government, the allocation for the health sector was continuously increased and the spending rate was also relatively good. But in the first few months of the interim government, the pace of spending slowed down drastically and the ADP implementation rate declined. Impact of Austerity

• Vaccination program disrupted: Supply of important vaccines including measles, rubella, and polio is on the verge of being cut off.
• Free medicine shortage: Poor patients are struggling to afford medical expenses as the supply of essential medicines in government hospitals has almost dried up.
• Development has stalled: The procurement of new infrastructure and equipment has come to a halt.

Health sector experts say that only 17.79% of spending is insufficient for healthcare. This has undermined the people’s right to health, especially putting the health of children in rural areas and marginalized communities at risk.

Those concerned believe that due to the non-use of allocated funds in this way, the people’s basic health rights have been severely undermined, and the current crisis of child deaths from measles is caused by this austerity.