PM Shehbaz says govt committed to provide health facilities to the common people at their doorsteps
ISLAMABAD, August 03 (SABAH): Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has formally launched the Health Insurance Card programme for media workers, artists and technicians attached to the film industry.
To this effect, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the State Life Insurance (SLI) in Islamabad on Thursday in the presence of the Prime Minister. Under the programme, an annual health insurance to cover medical expenditure worth 1.5 million rupees will be provided the cardholders.
Addressing the ceremony the Prime Minister said the government is committed to provide health facilities to the common people at their doorsteps. He said artists do a commendable job in making the country proud. Similarly, media workers take risk to perform difficult tasks during their professional responsibilities. He said no significant steps had been taken for the welfare of both the segments and issuance of the Health card to them is a welcoming sign.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb said the registration process for the health card has begun and health cards will formally be issued to the artists and media workers by next week.
She said one billion rupees have been earmarked in the budget for the current fiscal year to ensure welfare of artists and media workers.
Meanwhile Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called for devising strategy to save countries like Pakistan from the disastrous impacts of climate change when they have no contribution in inducing it.
He was addressing a ceremony organized by Ministry of Climate Change in Islamabad on Thursday, titled ‘Review of Pakistan’s climate journey’.
The Prime Minister said climate change has adversely impacted the whole world with Pakistan facing the devastating floods that inundated vast fertile lands.
He emphasized that the world needs to understand that there is no fault of countries having little to none contribution in greenhouse gas emissions but are facing the consequences of climate change and end up being trapped in a vicious cycle of loans to be paid back.
Shehbaz Sharif said debt trap is a death trap for these developing countries which are hardly meeting both ends.
He expressed gratitude to all donors, brotherly countries who came to Pakistan’s rescue during the devastating floods last year.
In a tweet today, the Prime Minister said it has been a year since the most devastating floods in history put one-thirds of Pakistan under water, caused large-scale destruction of infrastructure including millions of acres of standing crops and inflicted overall loss of 30 billion dollars on Pakistan’s economy. He said Pakistan used the unprecedented floods to warn the world of impending disaster induced by climate change.
Shehbaz Sharif further said that under the 4RF framework, Pakistan has been working on recovery, rehabilitation and rebuilding of the flood-affected regions. He said the cabinet recently approved a landmark National Adaptation Plan 2023, which will ensure that our policies, infrastructure, and communities are fully equipped to tackle the challenges.
The Prime Minister expressed Pakistan’s resolve to ensure the success of the climate journey in cooperation with partners and friends.