Punjab Government Allocates Rs. 37 Billion for Free Specialized Healthcare Programs
Punjab has earmarked over Rs. 37 billion to fund free treatment for cardiac, cancer, dialysis, stroke, and pediatric heart surgery patients across selected hospitals, with the province reporting a notable drop in waiting lists.
The Punjab government has allocated more than Rs. 37 billion to provide free specialized medical treatment to patients across a range of public health programs at selected hospitals in the province. Provincial Health Minister Khawaja Salman Rafique shared the figure while chairing a review meeting, describing the ongoing efforts as historic and foundational measures in the health sector.
According to the minister, the Chief Minister's special health initiatives have led to a significant reduction in patient waiting lists for treatments covering adult cardiac care, cancer, dialysis, stroke, pediatric heart surgery, and transplants. He directed hospitals to further accelerate efforts to bring these waiting lists down.
Under the Chief Minister's Adult Cardiac Surgery Program, free treatment worth Rs. 3 billion is being provided annually to patients with heart disease. The Chief Minister's Special Initiative for Cancer Patients offers free diagnosis, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgical and medical therapies at an annual cost of Rs. 10 billion, while the Special Initiative for Stroke Management delivers free treatment valued at approximately Rs. 1.25 billion each year.
The minister noted that the Chief Minister's Children's Heart Surgery Program has so far carried out heart surgeries completely free of charge for more than 16,857 children across Punjab. The meeting also included a detailed review of the administrative affairs and performance of the Nawaz Sharif Cardiology Centre in Murree and the Sahiwal Institute of Cardiology, with attention given to the status of medical equipment and human resources.
Khawaja Salman Rafique said the government is working in line with the vision of Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif to provide state-of-the-art cardiac care to patients. He highlighted that the Nawaz Sharif Cardiology Centre has become an effective treatment facility for residents of Murree and surrounding areas, and that the provincial government has for the first time procured modern machinery worth millions of rupees for the hospital, which now operates a fully functional Cath Lab.
