The government has framed a policy on spending health development surcharge by setting some 14 priority sectors, including financing for tobacco control activities.
The policy has been formulated after three and a half years of imposition of the surcharge on tobacco products.
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) imposed the 1.0 per cent surcharge on tobacco products, including cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products, on July 2014.
During the last three fiscal years (FY), the NBR VAT (Value Added Tax) Wing collected some Tk 9.0 billion as surcharge that has remained unutilised due to absence of any policy in this regard.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare issued a gazette - Health Development Surcharge Management Policy 2017 - on Wednesday with the details on spending the surcharge.
The surcharge revenue will be spent for operating National Tobacco Control Cell (NTCC), financing tobacco control activities, operating tobacco tax cell under NBR, training up stakeholders on tobacco control, conducting tobacco control campaigns, and providing technical and financial supports to the tobacco control organisations etc.
The fund will also be used for setting up national quit line for reducing use of tobacco items.
Besides, the government will use the fund to check tobacco cultivation as well as to encourage farmers to opt for alternative crop production.
According to the policy, the fund's spending will be audited in line with the methodology followed for the government agencies.
NBR will have to deposit the fund under the code of health ministry of the public exchequer.
A Health Development Surcharge Management Committee, headed by the health minister, will supervise and evaluate the proper use of the fund. NTCC will provide secretarial support to the committee, according to the policy.
If the government imposes any other surcharge on products hazardous to health in future that fund along with donations from local and foreign sources will also be added to the existing fund.
Some 41.3 million adult people in Bangladesh consume tobacco, according to the Global Adult Tobacco survey (GATS) 2009.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) data of 2004, some 57,000 people die and 3,82,000 become disable in various tobacco-related diseases every year.
Non-communicable diseases are the major cause of 60 per cent of the deaths in Bangladesh.
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