FAISALABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday launched the Sehat Insaf Card in Faisalabad and said Pakistan’s doctor-population ratio was among the worst in the world.
According to the prime minister, the issuance of health cards was one of the first steps towards making Pakistan an Islamic welfare state and added that it was not easy for Punjab to allocate Rs400 billion out of its budget for the universal health care scheme.
In a criticism of the former rulers, he said the people who were responsible for providing health care to the nation were themselves relying on medical treatment in foreign countries. They failed to uplift the health sector, he said, adding that there was a shortage of government-run hospitals in Pakistan.
The district-level hospitals have a shortage of staff which forced the people to seek treatment at divisional level hospitals, he said and added that the “health sector did not deteriorate overnight”.
“Due to the discriminatory policies of the previous governments, two Pakistans were created – one for the rich and one for the poor.”
He also criticized Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari for refusing to implement the health card scheme in Sindh.
Imran said the PPP government did not realize in what conditions the people of rural Sindh were living in, adding that the former president, Asif Ali Zardari, was buying off politicians with “stolen wealth”.
According to Imran, he only joined politics to rid the country of these two “corrupt families” as Pakistan has no future till “these people are in power”. He said the rule of law and a welfare state were the only ways that Pakistan could progress, adding that some lawyers, however, wanted former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who “looted” the country, back in power.
“They want the lifetime ban on him revoked so that he can return to power and plunder it again,” the PM said, adding that states are not destroyed with bombs but making crimes like corruption acceptable.
