Dhaka, Sept. 18 -- The country's health expenditure has been one of the lowest in the region for years. A sizeable part of the allocation made annually in the national budget gets lost in the vast cobweb of corruption and the remainder has never been enough to narrow the ever-widening inequality in the health sector.

The health authorities have been struggling to deliver primary health-related services in districts and upazilas for lack of required health professionals and equipment.

However, many incidents of irregularities in recruitment or posting health professionals and procurement of medical equipment have hit the news headlines in the recent years.

The audit department tallied objections for a period of four years beginning from...