Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Husain on Monday said the lion’s share of the health budget will be allocated to cancer treatment, if necessary, pledging to expedite the installation of modern equipment for the treatment of life-threatening disease.

“Delays in the installation and commissioning of modern equipment for cancer treatment will be removed. Initiatives will also be taken, with the Prime Minister’s support, to ensure duty-free import facilities for such equipment,” he said.

The minister made the remarks while addressing a discussion titled “Cancer Care for All: Integrating Prevention, Precision Treatment, Palliative Care and Policy” at the National Cancer Conference 2026 at the National Institute of Cancer Research and Hospital (NICRH) in the city’s Mohakhali area.

He said initiatives are being taken to install radiotherapy machines at cancer hospitals across the country quickly so that patients can receive modern treatment in the country rather than going abroad.

Sakhawat said there are necessary manpower and technologists to operate the modern equipment. “If necessary, arrangements will be made to train them over the next three months to ensure the optimum use of the new technologies,” he said.

Criticising past mismanagement in the health sector, he said the 17 years of rule under the previous government had left the sector far behind.

The minister said negligence will no longer be tolerated in the health sector and warned that those who fail to discharge their duties properly could lose their jobs.

NICRH Director Prof Dr Mostafa Aziz Sumon chaired the discussion, while BNP Standing Committee member Prof Dr Farhad Haim Donar, Public Works Department Chief Engineer Md Khalequezzaman Choudhury and Additional Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services Prof Dr Zahid Raihan, among others, attended the event.