CM Punjab requests 7.5 bn payment of health card dues

LAHORE: Chief Minister Punjab Chaudhry Parvez Elahi has written a letter to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for payment of health card dues. 

In a meeting presided over by Chief Minister Parvez Elahi, it was told that the federal government has to pay 7.5 billion rupees for the health card program. The CM said that Punjab has paid 100% towards the health card dues while the federal government has not given a single rupee for this public welfare project. He noted that the Punjab government was providing facilities for the free treatment of patients in Azad Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Islamabad on the health card. 

CM Parvez Elahi said that the health card is the flagship program of chairman PTI Imran Khan and all citizens of Punjab can avail this facility whenever they want. The health coverage was being provided to the whole of Punjab without discrimination, he added. 

In Punjab, 821 hospitals including 206 government and 615 private hospitals are providing free treatment on the health card. 80 thousand beds are available in the hospitals and more than 2.8 million people have benefited from the health card program of Punjab. Dialysis, cardiology and other diseases can be treated under the health card program, he further said. Moonis Elahi was also present. A detailed briefing was given about the health card program. 

Provincial Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid, Finance Minister Mohsin Leghari, Chief Secretary Abdullah Khan Sumbal, Finance Secretary Wasif Khurshid, Secretary Specialized Healthcare and Medical Education Ahmad Javed Qazi, Chief Executive Officer PHIMC and others attended the meeting.