Punjab budget people-friendly, says Yasmin Rashid

LAHORE: Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid said here Monday that Punjab has presented a historical and public-friendly budget according to the needs of the people.

The minister said that the budget had been prepared according to the people’s needs. Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar have won the hearts of the people with this great budget.

She said that the previous governments never provided relief to common man. She said, “The government has provided relief to the people by cutting down on its own expenses. The PTI government believes in spending public money on public welfare alone.

The allocation of Rs370 billion for health is a great gift from PM. The Punjab government has provided Rs106 billion relief package for COVID-19.

The development budget has been increased 182% with addition Rs96 billion compared to last year. An amount of Rs80 billion has been earmarked for Universal Health Insurance Programme. The entire population of Punjab will be provided free-of-cost quality healthcare facilities. Under this programme, more than 110 million population of Punjab shall be provided quality insurance.

The minister said, “Development budget of Rs78 billion has been proposed for the Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Department. Children Hospital Paeds burn center, 1,000-bed General Hospital, 200-bed Mother and Child Hospital Multan, and CT Scan machine installation at Nishter Hospital are among the key projects for the SH&ME Department. In Rajanpur, Layyah, Attock, Bahawalnagar and Sialkot, state of the art mother and child hospitals will be set up with Rs24 billion.”

The minister added that proposal of Rs19 billion development budget had been tabled for Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department. She said Rs6 billion would be spent on a special programme for upgradation of 119 THQ hospitals and revamping. DHQs will be established in Chiniot, Hafizabad and Chakwal with a budget of Rs16.6 billion. An amount of Rs11 billion has been earmarked for preventive programmes like HIV/AIDs, Hepatitis and similar diseases.

The minister said that overall, 36 BHUs were being upgraded to RHCs. A special amount of Rs10 billion has been reserved for corona vaccination of entire population of Punjab. An amount of Rs35.25 billion has been reserved for provision of medicines in hospitals. In 14 cities of the province, trauma centres are being set up with a cost of Rs3.5 billion in 14 cities.