Govt committed to bringing corrupt answerable before the law & recovering nation’s looted money: PM Imran Khan
BAHAWALPUR, Feb 01 (SABAH): Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday said that past rulers did not spend money on welfare of the public.
PM Imran Khan, while addressing the launching ceremony of Naya Pakistan Qaumi Sehat Card Program, said that there is no such initiative in the world and this is a step towards making Pakistan a welfare state.
The premier said that with this program private sector will establish new hospitals in the rural areas and will bring a revolution in the health sector of the country.
Prime Minister said the government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf was committed to mitigating the deprivation of the people of South Punjab by ensuring their just share in development budget and employment opportunities.
He said the people of South Punjab would be given their right of access to education, healthcare and development in accordance with the percentage of the population.
The National Health Card, providing Rs one million medical coverage per household annually, will benefit around 10.5 million people belonging to the districts of Rahimyar Khan, Bahawalpur and Bahawalnagar.
The prime minister termed the launch of the health coverage facility as the “landmark step” to accommodate the people bearing the burden of expensive medical treatment.
He said universal health coverage was available in a few countries across the world, where the government fully covered the medical expenses.
In Pakistan, he said, the philosophy behind the health card was in line with the goals of a socio-welfare State of Medina, adding that it would prove a phenomenal step in the improvement of healthcare services.
PM Imran Khan said the health card was a defining moment in encouraging the private sector to join the medical network especially in rural areas and creating an environment to compete for the public sector hospitals to improve their services.
He said a massive amount of over Rs 400 billion would be spent on health insurance programmes to meet the demands of the growing population.
He said the programme would address the problems including the unavailability of doctors and paramedic staff at hospitals, especially in rural areas.
The prime minister announced that he would soon visit Bahawalpur in near future regarding the further administrative steps on South Punjab Civil Secretariat in the city.
Imran Khan said the government was taking steps to improve economic stability and mentioned that the credible ‘Economist’ magazine and ‘Bloomberg’ had ranked Pakistan among the top three countries that had effectively sustained economically during pandemic.
He dismissed the “unreasonable” criticism that called the government as “inefficient”, and said that economic growth of 5.37 despite the pandemic situation could absolutely not be termed as inefficiency.
Instead, he pointed out that the international media had reported about the “stories of massive corruption” committed by the leaders of two previous governments of Pakistan. He said Pakistan suffered immensely during these two tenures just like that ‘even a factory can become bankrupt if a dacoit is appointed at the top’.
The prime minister said the government was committed to bringing the corrupt answerable before the law and recovering the nation’s looted money.
Earlier, in his address, Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Ahmed Khan Buzdar said that after launching of this program in the three districts of Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan and Bahawalnagar, 10.5 million people of Bahawalpur Division will take benefit from the program and overall sixty three percent of total population of Punjab will be able to get benefit for the program.
In his welcome address, Federal Minister for Industries and Production, Makhdoom Khusro Bukhtiar said that Bahawalpur Division has become the first Division of South Punjab where the National Health Card project is being launched.
Prime Minister Imran Khan along with Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar also distributed Naya Pakistan Qaumi Sehat Card among peoples belongs to Cholistan Desert, three districts of Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan and Bahawalnagar on the occasion.