Rs440b to be spent on Health Card Programme in three years

LAHORE: Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that the decision to launch the Naya Pakistan Health Insurance Program was taken in sympathy of poor segments of society. He was addressing the ceremony of launching Naya Pakistan Health Card Program in Punjab, at Governor’s House in Lahore on Monday.
Imran Khan said that Riyasat-e-Madina was the first welfare state in world history. He said that a welfare state like Madina can only be established once humanity is served in any country.
He said that our family had to face many hardships when my mother was suffering from cancer. Then I had thought about building a cancer hospital especially for poor people.
He said that Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital was set up under the same philosophy. He said that ten billion rupees are spent annually for treatment of cancer patients at Shaukat Khanum Hospital.
Prime Minister said Pakistan was meant to be Islamic welfare state under the Objectives Resolution. He appreciated the Punjab Chief Minister and Health Minister for launching Naya Pakistan Health Card Program in province. He said starting from January 2022, the Sehat Card would be distributed across the province within three months allowing whole of the Punjab population to avail free medical treatment worth Rs 1 million a year at both government and private hospitals. “This is not a health insurance rather a health system. Now private sector will build hospitals even in villages where the basic health units remain vacant as no doctor desires to be posted there. Now private sector will come and poorest of the poor will get free treatment,” the prime minister remarked. He said the difficulties faced by his family for treatment of her cancer patient mother, had prompted him to think of introducing a universal health insurance facility for the whole population so that no one had to sell out belongings for the medical treatment of their dear one. He said three months of his mother’s illness was an ordeal from Allah for his whole family.
He said the health insurance cover would give the families a confidence to get treated their ailing family members which otherwise was unaffordable for many. TF REPORT