ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has said that the PPP government has established around 500 health institutions in Sindh because providing best health facilities to the masses is one of its top priorities.

“Health is in the priorities of the PPP and we have established around 500 health institutions in Sindh because we believe that no citizen should be denied of medical treatment because of his/her financial condition,” Mr Bhutto-Zardari said in a message released on the occasion of the World Health Day which was observed in the country on April 7 like other parts of the world.

The World Health Day is a global health awareness day which is observed on April 7 every year on the call of World Health Organisation.

The PPP leader said that it was a pity that not a single tertiary care hospital had been established in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan over the last 15 years by their respective governments.

Says ‘Health for All’ policy has been adopted in the province

He said that if the PPP came into power after the next general elections, its government would set up top class health institutions in other provinces also like the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD), Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Gambut Institute, Dow Medical University, etc, established in Sindh.

The PPP leader said that it was the responsibility of the state to provide free-of-cost medical facilities to the masses, adding that statistics regarding the people’s access to health facilities in the country were extremely disappointing.

“Around 40pc of the population of the country has been living below the poverty line. In case of disease, families cannot meet huge medical expenses. In the 1990s, Benazir Bhutto took a revolutionary step by creating lady health workers and now LHWs have become the backbone of the country’s healthcare system,” Mr Bhutto-Zardari said.

He claimed that despite limited resources, the Sindh government always took measures for improvement of healthcare facilities for the masses. To date, he said, the Sindh government had set up more than 500 small and large health centers and hospitals across the province.

He said the CyberKnife robotic radio surgery, set up for cancer patients at the JPMC in Karachi, was a blessing for patients suffering from cancer.

“People receive free treatment in these healthcare facilities. These facilities also cater to medical needs of people from other cities and provinces. We have adopted ‘Health for All’ policy which has opened the doors of treatment to every Pakistani living anywhere in the country,” he said.

He also endorsed the World Health Organisation’s theme for the World Health Day this year, “Our Planet, Our Health”, and paid tribute to those frontline health workers and doctors who embraced martyrdom during the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic and anti-polio campaigns.

Published in Dawn, April 8th, 2022