PM Imran says Rs400 billion invested in national health insurance

FAISALABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Wednesday that it was a difficult decision to invest as many as Rs400 billion in the national health insurance programme.

Speaking in a ceremony held to kick-off the Insaf Sehat Health Card programme in Faisalabad, the premier said that in the past medical treatment of chronic illness was only reserved for rich people and the state did not take responsibility for it.

“The government hospitals left by the British deteriorated gradually while the super-rich who got the governments got their medical treatments in Dubai and London,” the premier took a jibe at the leadership of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Pakistan Peoples Party.

PM Imran said that the state of hospitals in Sindh is abysmal. “Bilawal says that he would invest in hospitals rather than free treatment of the poor. Who stopped him from doing so in the last 13 years,” he said. “Zardari has come out with his checkbook to buy politicians. The looters who used to abuse one another have joined hands.”

The premier said that Shehbaz Sharif’s personal accountant received Rs400 billion in his account. “It was black money transferred in someone else’s name. The country will progress when the state stands with a common man,” he said. After the health card, we now have to ensure that no powerful usurp the right of the poor, he said, adding that his government will ensure the provision of rights to women.