Minister for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Aamer Mehmood Kiani on Sunday said that people throughout the country will be given health insurance by 2023. Speaking at a function to launch awareness initiative "Pedal for Health" in connection with non-communicable diseases prevention, he said that the government is paying special attention to health sector as per vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
He said that Insaf Health Card is a good initiative of the PTI government to provide health assistance to poor people, who could not afford quality healthcare as respective government in the past did not even bother to think about poor people.
He said that existing health facilities will be revamped, besides establishing new hospitals and rural health centers to provide medical aid to the residents of federal capital. He said Islamabad will be made a model city in terms of provision of health facilities, which will be further replicated in rest of the country.
Kiani said that the Ministry of Health would take steps for creating awareness against non-communicable diseases, for environment protection and to encourage the population to undertake healthy activities like cycling. He said that physical inactivity had been recognized as one of the leading risk factors for global mortality due to non-communicable diseases (NCD). Regular physical activity like cycling and running helped in lowering the risk of several chronic and non communicable diseases ie coronary heart disease, stroke, hypertension type 2 diabetes and depression. Cycling could improve both population health and the environment.
The minister said that cycling was a healthy, low-impact exercise that could be enjoyed by people of all ages, from young children to older adults. Cycling could improve both physical and mental health, and could reduce the chances of experiencing different NCDs.