Health Minister Robin Swann, who is standing down as an MLA ahead of the UK general election, has not ruled out resigning over the budget.
The Ulster Unionist minister, a North Antrim MLA but standing in South Antrim in the general election, refused to sign off on the £14.5 billion budget agreed by all other members of the Executive.
His department was allocated £7.76bn in the budget presented by Finance Minister Caoimhe Archibald. A further £1.8bn was allocated for capital spending.
After health, the largest allocation goes to the Department of Education - £2.87bn followed by the Department of Justice at £1.26bn.
While the health service has been allocated more than half the £14.5 billion resource budget available to the devolved government, Mr Swann said it falls well short of the money needed to maintain services at safe levels.
“What I am saying is a diminished health service, a health service that is actually ravaged by millions of pounds worth of cuts, is bad for people’s health,” he told the BBC Good Morning Ulster programme.
He added: “I believed that going into this Executive and the Assembly return, we heard from across the political parties, across the political spectrum, that health was going to be a priority, waiting list initiatives were going to be a priority.
“And when I looked at the allocation that was being proposed for health, I don’t see that reflected in the actions or the proposals that were taken.
Questioned on whether he would resign over the budget, Mr Swann said: “There were challenges. Yesterday was a very challenging day. There were hard decisions and hard conversations being had around that table.
“But this is the first stage of this budget process. The budget now moves to the Assembly for debate and to be voted on by other parties and other MLAs as well.
“There is still a fight to be had in regards to this budget.”
Stormont’s First and deputy First Ministers Michelle O’Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly expressed disappointment Mr Swann had been unable to support the budget.
