Islamabad-Federal Minister for National Health Services Saira Afzal Tarar on Tuesday directed for expanding the Prime Minister’s National Health Programme to fifteen more districts of the country.

The minister was reviewing progress of the Prime Minister’s National Health Programme (PMNHP) in a meeting held here. The meeting was attended by Secretary Ministry of NHS, DG Health, Chairman State Life Insurance Corporation of Pakistan along with his team and teams of National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and Punjab Health Initiative Management Company.

During the meeting, the minister directed to start the PMNHP in fifteen new districts at the earliest. The new districts include Muzaffargarh, Vehari, Lodhran, Multan, Rajanpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Mianwali, Bhakkar, Khushab, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Hafizabad (Punjab), Noshwroferoze (Sindh), Killa Abdullah and Khuzdar (Balochistan). The minister reassured that no stone would be left unturned in improving services for the poor beneficiaries of the programme.

She also assured of taking necessary actions in the light of Prime Minister’s directives of expanding the PMNHP across Pakistan to provide free-of-cost health insurance to the poor families whose daily income is below Rs200.

Spokesperson NHS Sajid Hussain Shah while talking to The Nation said that addition of fifteen more districts in the programme would facilitate almost 150,000 families in the country. He said that the programme was already functional in 26 districts of the country including the federal capital.

The PMNHP was initiated to provide medical facilities to the people living below the poverty line and the government had announced to bear all expenses of the patient. The federal government empanelled private hospitals for healthcare of the patients and issued cards to the registered poor families for medical treatment.

As per the scheme, private hospitals allocate the bed for the patient admitted under the programme and the government pay expenses of all major and minor diseases. Nearly six private hospitals in the federal capital have been registered for facilitation of the patients under the PMNHP.