QUETTA: Chief Minister Mir Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo has approved an additional fund of Rs2 billion for the Balochistan Public Endowment Fund (BPEF), increasing the total amount to Rs6bn.

Official sources said the approval was given on a summary moved by the Social Welfare Department to provide at the government’s expense medical treatment to more deserving patients who were suffering from heart, kidney, cancer and other diseases.

“The increase in the fund’s seed money is aimed at further strengthening the patients’ treatment programme,” said a senior government official. He said the BPEF was a unique programme which provided quality treatment to the poor and deserving people, adding that it was providing fund for treatment of the poor and needy people suffering from cancer, liver, heart, kidney and infectious diseases.

Apart from Quetta, other hospitals in the country are also on the panel of BPEF from where patients could get treatment. “Hundreds of male and female patients have so far benefited from this fund in Balochistan,” he added.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2022