ISLAMABAD, Aug 20 (APP): Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday said the pro-people measures like extension of health insurance facility to the entire population of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, manifested that Pakistan was on course to become an Islamic welfare state.
Addressing the agreement signing ceremony here between the KPK government and State Life Insurance Corporation, the Prime Minister said any country taking the responsibility of its people would be called a civilized state. Under the agreement, an annual health insurance cover of Rs 1 million each would be provided to around six million families of the province enabling the whole 40 million population to avail free medical treatment at over 250 public and private hospitals across the country. KPK Health Secretary Syed Imtiaz Hussain Shah and SLIC Chairman Dr Riaz Ahmed Memon signed the agreement while the Prime Minister along with KPK Governor Shah Farman and Chief Minister Mahmood Khan witnessed the ceremony. Federal ministers Pervaiz Khattak, Asad Umar, Ali Amin Gandapur and Murad Saeed, Special Assistants to the PM Lt Gen (Retd) Asim Saleem Bajwa and Shahbaz Gill, provincial cabinet members and senior officials attended the ceremony.
The Prime Minister congratulated the KPK government for taking the remarkable initiative which he believed, would also compel other federating units to follow suit consequent to the possible public pressure. He said he would ask the Punjab and Balochistan governments too to provide health insurance cover to their entire population which would ultimately put the opposition-led Sindh government under pressure to extend the facility to its people.
He said no service could match supporting a cash-starved poor family having a member with a serious disease. Illness was among the top factors to push a stable family down below the poverty line, he added, recalling his difficult experience of getting treatment for his cancer patient mother. The Prime Minister said the launch of the Sehat Insaf Card for the entire population by the KPK government amidst the financial constraints due to the COVID-19 pandemic was highly laudable. He said besides benefiting the people, the massive health insurance cover would also beget a competitive environment to help improve the service delivery at public and private hospitals.
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