When Finance Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat delivered the budget speech on Monday afternoon, officials at the Ministry of Health found themselves extremely surprised. Their surprise was justified, because previously the government had instructed them to limit their demand to just Rs41 billion, but the government has allocated more than twice the amount at Rs83.99 billion.

Several officials at the ministry the Post talked to even said they still doubt whether the amount read out by Minister Mahat is correct.

Dr Samir Kumar Adhikari, joint spokesman for the Health Ministry, said that the ministry had prepared a budget as per the ceiling (Rs 41 billion) set by the government and forwarded it to the Finance Ministry, but Monday’s announcement left him genuinely surprised.

A senior official at the ministry said if the figure announced on Monday is correct, then the health ministry officials will have to revise their health plans entirely since they had based their calculations on the Rs41 billion limit.

The government has also allocated a budget to extend the vaccination programme against human papillomavirus to prevent cervical cancer in women and a free screening for cervical cancer by state-run health facilities across the country. Studies show that cervical cancer is the most common type of cancer in Nepal. Mid-day meals, and sanitary pads, are among the programmes for which a significant amount has been allocated in the budget.

The government has also allocated a budget to continue a relief to patients suffering from kidney diseases, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, spinal injury, head injury, and sickle cell anaemia.

The officials said they had been expecting a massive cut in the health budget for the next fiscal year, as the ceiling of the budget given to the ministry had been lowered.

They said that the country’s priority programmes include those on maternal health, child health immunisation, nutrition, HIV, tuberculosis, epidemic control, control of non-communicable diseases, mental health, ayurveda and alternative medicines would be affected if the health budget is cut by significant amounts.

For the current fiscal year to July 15, Rs69.38 billion or around 5.7 percent of the national budget was allocated to the health sector.

Interestingly, with just a month and a half remaining for the current fiscal year to end, Health Ministry officials say only justaround 30-40 percent of the budget allocated to the health sector has been spent so far.

“A majority of the budget is spent in the final quarter of the fiscal year,” said Dr Krishna Prasad Paudel, Chief of the Policy Planning and Monitoring Division at the Health Ministry. “In the last fiscal year, around 80 percent of the budget was spent.”

The salaries of staff have also been included in the health budget as are the grants for the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Nepal Police Hospital, Nepal Army Hospital and the Civil Hospital.