Punjab CM seeks payment of health card dues from Center

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has penned down a letter to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, seeking payment of Health Card dues, ARY News reported on Monday.

According to details, Punjab CM wrote a letter to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, expressing displeasure over the non-payment of health card dues from the federal government.

Pervaiz Elahi noted that the federal government has to pay Rs7.5 billion under health card, while Punjab has paid 100% in this regard, regretting that the Centre has not paid a single rupee for the welfare of the people.

The chief minister further said that the provincial government was providing facilities for treatment on health cards, noting that it was PTI chairman Imran Khan’s flagship and historic programme.

“All the citizens of Punjab can get treatment whenever and wherever they want without discrimination,” he said, adding that the patients can get treatment in 821 hospitals in Punjab including 206 government and 615 private hospitals free on health cards.

The Punjab CM said, “More than 28 million people have benefited from the health card programme in the province,” adding that dialysis, cardiology and other diseases can be treated under the Health Card Programme.

Read More: CM Pervaiz Elahi announces to further expand health card scheme

Earlier in September, the Punjab government decided to add more hospitals to the panel for the provision of standard health treatment to the people having Sehat Insaf Cards.

According to details, Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi held a meeting, which decided to extend the Health Card programme in a further improved manner.

The meeting approved the inclusion of more hospitals in health card panel in order to facilitate the people of the province. The meeting also decided to add cyberknife – an advanced surgery technology – to the health card programme.

“The provision of free healthcare to the marginalised section of society is the foremost priority of the government,” CM Punjab said, vowing to add more facilities to the health card panel.