PESHAWAR: Adviser to the chief minister on information and public relations Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif has said under the Sehat Card Plus programme, free medical services were provided to 4.4 million citizens of the province. “The provincial government has also included expensive and lifesaving treatments like kidney, liver, bone marrow, and cochlear transplants in the Sehat Card programme.”
“The budget for the Sehat Card Plus has been increased from Rs28 billion to Rs35 billion, which is 25pc higher than the previous year. Similarly, Rs6 billion have been allocated under the health facility programme for the merged districts,” the statement quoted Mr Saif as saying. He added for the improvement of basic health centres, the provincial government allocated Rs1.2 billion for over 2,500 rural and urban health centres.
As part of the budget, newborn care centres would be established in five districts, and satellite centres of Peshawar Institute of Cardiology would be set up in Mardan and Bannu, he said, adding that the health budget was increased by 19pc, from Rs232 billion last year to Rs276 billion for the fiscal year 2025-26.
Mr Saif said that the education budget was also increased by 11pc, from Rs327 billion in 2024-25 to Rs363 billion for the fiscal year 2025-26, adding that 16,000 teachers were recruited in 2024-25, and Rs5 billion were allocated for the enrolment of out-of-school children.
He added that the budget for the province’s universities also went up from Rs3 billion to Rs10 billion and special funds were allocated to improve basic facilities in schools, which would benefit 5.9 million students in 32,500 government schools by providing teaching materials, classroom repairs, and promoting extracurricular activities.
Saif insisted that the federal government and provincial government of Punjab were unable to compete with KP in any sector, which was why their ministers were engaging in empty rhetoric and pointless criticism.
Published in Dawn, June 16th, 2025
