LAHORE: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday announced that the government would shut down all district headquarters (DHQ) hospitals and facilitate the private sector to ensure provision of health care to people in far-off areas through the Naya Pakistan National Health Card.

Speaking at the launch of the health card at a ceremony at the Governor House, the prime minister regretted that the DHQ hospitals were lying deserted because of the absence of doctors there. `Why should the government spend money if doctors are not going to the DHQ hospitals to serve the masses?` he asked.

The prime minister said the health card would be available in Lahore division from Jan 1 (today) and all families across Punjab would be covered by March 2022. Calling it a big step towards the creation of a welfare state, the PM said the government would be spending Rs400 billion to offer health insurance to 30 million families in Punjab.

He said the huge investment in the health card scheme would help create a robust healthcare structure across the province and the government would be relieved of establishing new hospitals. `Now, the private sector will come forward and establish hospitals across the province` for which it would be incentivised in acquiring land on controlled rates and availability of duty-free imported medical equipment, he stressed.

The private sector would be able to offer quality treatment to the masses even in far-flung areas in the province through the health card.

`The government wants all the poor people to be facilitated and helped to rise as was the case in the welfare state of Madina,` Mr Khan said and regretted that such a state did not exist in Muslim countries, but it did in Europe. After covering the entire Punjab, the prime minister said, the health cards would be given to the people in Balochistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan where the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) had a government.

Meanwhile, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry appealed to the Sindh chief minister to review his decision and let the people of the province avail the facility of Rs1 million health card.

Earlier, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar said that around 35,000 jobs had been given in the health sector, adding that the promise of 100,000 jobs would also be fulfilled.

Later, PM Khan held a series of meetings to review the status of development in Punjab. He also met the provincial minister for sports and Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ramiz Raja.

Punjab Finance Minister Hashim Jawan Bakht briefed PM Khan on the development budget amounting to Rs740bn.

PM Khan also inaugurated a shelter home on Ferozepur Road and said the PTI government was focusing on the welfare of downtrodden people.