PM Pledges to Provide Half of Punjab Health Coverage by Year-End

On Saturday, Prime Minister Imran Khan said that by the end of this year, half of the population of Punjab will get health cards from the government while the whole of Punjab will be provided with health insurance by next year.

Prime Minister performed the groundbreaking of a 400-bed hospital and a university in district Hafizabad of Punjab, after which the premier addressed the large public gathering and made the announcement. 

In the 73-year history of Pakistan, it is going to be for the first time that an ordinary man will be guaranteed that if a member of their family falls ill, he will be having health coverage, said the premier. 

He further added that the health cardholders will be allowed to get treatment worth up to Rs 1 million at any government or private hospital. 

The Prime Minister noted that even rich and developed countries of the world do not provide such kind of health insurance, adding that this initiative will help in building private hospitals in areas like Hafizabad as the health card will allow even the poor people to get treatments in private hospitals. 

The government had built panahgahs for the laborers and poor to stay at and save money, and the next objective of the government was to provide, through the Naya Pakistan Housing Program, housing to people at a cheaper price, Prime Minister Khan said. 

He continued that roti, kapra, and makan have been talked about by many for years, for the first time, people will get their own houses. 

The PM added that the government is currently focused on introducing an education curriculum that will be uniform throughout all Urdu and English medium schools and madarrasahs. 

In his address, Prime Minister said that the President of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Nawaz Sharif is speaking India’s language by maligning the military leadership of the country, saying that his resolve is even more strengthened now to bring the people, who looted the country, to justice. 

Talking on the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), the anti-government alliance, the premier said that the opposition leaders were playing a circus because now the cases would be pursued against them freely by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). 

The premier questioned why the opposition did not try to challenge the results in courts even though they accused the general elections of 2018 to be manipulated. 

Quoting his cricket career example, Prime Minister Imran Khan said that as a captain, he was the first one who demanded that matches be played under neutral umpires. 

He then said that in his government, elections would be conducted as such that those losing it would be content with them to be fair. 

He further said that the government is pondering over introducing electronic voting.