ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday expressed satisfaction over what he called a positive trend of economic indicators and announced that distribution process of 40 million Sehat Insaf Cards in 36 districts of Punjab would start on Dec 31 and complete in March next year.

According to the Prime Minister Office, Mr Khan chaired a meeting to discuss distribution of Sehat Insaf Cards in Punjab. The meeting was informed that a massive awareness campaign would also be launched to ensure better utility of the health insurance facility.

PM’s special assistants Dr Faisal Sultan and Dr Shahbaz Gill, Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra and senior officers attended the meeting.

The prime minister directed the authorities concerned to utilise all resources for effective execution of the project.

Calling Sehat Insaf Card a milestone achievement of the incumbent government, the prime minister said the universal health coverage was the key component of the government’s vision.

The provision of quality healthcare to the poor was not only the government’s responsibility but also the manifestation of government’s priorities, he added.

Imran expresses satisfaction at positive trend of economic indicators

He said that the health insurance would not only provide top quality healthcare to the people but also bring about a boom in private hospitals.

The prime minister instructed the health ministers that besides ensuring uniform health facilities to the poor, they should also set up a mechanism for proper guidance of beneficiaries, particularly the illiterate people. He also called for making the beneficiaries’ feedback a permanent feature of the programme to address shortcomings without any delay.

The prime minister also ordered establishment of special cells at federal and provincial levels to achieve effective implementation of the project.

In a separate meeting, Prime Minister Khan said that with all economic indicators moving towards positive trajectory, there was a need to take urgent measures to check the existing gap between imports and exports.

He directed the commerce division to present within the next two weeks a strategic exports framework for approval and set targets for trade and investment officers posted abroad.

The prime minister reviewed the measures taken by the government for enhancing the volume of country’s exports.

National Security Adviser Dr Moeed Yusuf, PM’s special assistant Dr Shehbaz Gill, secretaries of the commerce and energy divisions and senior officers attended the meeting.

The meeting was told that with focus on 19 products included in the areas of information technology (IT), textile, medicines, poultry, rice, vegetables, dry fruit, leather, salt, marble, ceramics and surgical instruments, the country’s current volume of exports could be increased up to $30 billion.

The commerce division told the meeting that consultation with industrialists, exporters and relevant government institutions was in progress.

The prime minister said that with facilitation and ease of doing business for exporters, the government’s priority in terms of enhancing exports was diversification of products and markets. He further said that as the Pakistani business community had a lot of potential, the provision of business-friendly environment and policies was the government’s foremost priority.

He said that since the government was committed to providing all possible facilitation to the business community, it also expected them to benefit from this opportunity and fully support the government in its efforts to strengthen the country’s economy.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2021