MANSEHRA: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Monday began distribution of the Insaf Health Cards in Mansehra district.

`Eight members of 119,000 families selected through a poverty survey in our district will have access to free treatment in private hospitals,` naib nazim of Dattar village council Jibran Malik told a group of women selected for the cards in Gazikot area here.

PTl tehsil president Ajmal Khan Swati was also present on occasion.

Naib nazim Jibran Malik, who is also the local coordinator for the Insaf Health Cards programme, said 1,350 families would get Insaf Health Card in Datta union council alone, where the relevant departments were busy verifying the heads of deserving families.

He said for the first time in the province, members of a deserving family could avail themselves of Rs540,000 worth of free treatment annually even that of serious diseases. PTl leader Ajmal Swati said the health cards would be distributed to the deserving families in other parts of the district, too.

The women, who received cards, praised the government for the initiative saying it will ensure their access to quality care in private hospitals, which they`d never dreamt of.

Meanwhile, teachers in Mansehra district on Monday set up the All Education Council to claim own rights.

The development came as the officebearers of 12 different teacher organisations working in the district gathered at the Government Higher Secondary School here.

The participants announced the merger of their respective organisations with the AEC.

They later unanimously named officebearers for the body with Waqar Shah being chairman, Mehboobur Rehman patron-inchief, Mohammad Bashir senior vicepresident and Nisar Khan general secretary.

-Correspondent