DERA GHAZI KHAN: Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that those who gather in the name of democracy want to hide their loot and declared that no one will be exempted from the accountability process.

While addressing a ceremony to launch distribution of health cards in Rajanpur district, the prime minister said whenever a ‘powerful dacoit’ came under arrest, they called it a ‘threat to democracy’.

Mr Khan recalled that during eight days that he had spent in Dera Ghazi Khan Central Jail, he found that all inmates were poor people. But when he came to the assembly again, he saw ‘big looters’ or ‘dacoits’ there, he added.

About his own accountability, Mr Khan said he produced 40-year-old documents in court to prove his innocence. He said on that occasion he did not say he was not answerable as he was a cricketer then. “As prime minister and representative of the people, I am answerable,” he admitted.

Highlights need to improve hospitals’ condition; health insurance cards distributed among people in Rajanpur

The prime minister also claimed that he would tender his resignation if his document proved fake or false. But, he added, Nawaz Sharif could not defend himself in the London flats scandal.

He said the thrice elected prime minister and supreme leader of the main opposition party wanted to either go abroad for medical treatment or remain in jail. It was an irony that the head of the party that ruled the country for several years did not find any hospital in the country suitable for his treatment.

The prime minister said that Nawaz Sharif had spent Rs280 million on his medical treatment abroad. He said the Sharif brother as well as Ishaq Dar and his family used to have foreign medical treatment as they did not work for provision of proper health facilities in the country.

Mr Khan said hospitals were in bad condition and people were scared to visit the public sector hospitals. There was dire need to make hospitals in good condition to provide best health care facilities to the people of the country, he added.

The prime minister was of the opinion that nationalisation of government institutions in the 1970s was the basic cause of gradual deterioration of all public services.

He said there was a need to improve the health sector.

He said the condition of hospitals in Rawalpindi and Islamabad was also bad, as people did not have trust in the public sector health facilities.

Mentioning Punjab Chief Minister Usman Khan Buzdar, PM Khan said Mr Buzdar was well aware of the condition of hospitals and the problems that the people faced.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and provincial ministers also addressed the gathering.

Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2019