The federal government has decided to launch health cards for the permanent residents of Islamabad and Gilgit-Baltistan. Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health, Dr. Faisal Sultan announced this on Wednesday after presiding over a meeting of the National Steering Committee on health.

Addressing the media after the session, the SAPM said that more than 258,000 families of Islamabad will benefit from the government's Sehat Insaf Card scheme launched under Sehat Sahulat Program.

“Similarly, about 328,00 households in Gilgit Baltistan will be able to get free medical treatment through the heath card facility,” Dr. Sultan said.

The government aims to expand this program to 80 million people – or 10.5 million households – to provide them free medical treatment in private and public hospitals of their choice.

Dr. Faisal Sultan said that the PTI government wants to turn Islamabad into a model city in terms of health services. He noted that the government is working to improve the healthcare system of the country, and expanding the scope of Sehat Insaaf Cards to the entire country would help achieve the target.

“The program is currently underway in 96 districts of Pakistan,” Dr. Sultan said, adding that about 16 million families are benefiting from the health card at present.

The scope of health cards will also be expanded to the seven more districts of Punjab — Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur, Layyah, Sahiwal, Pakpattan, Okara, and Muzaffargarh — within the next two months, while the remaining districts will get the cards by December 2021.