Health insurance cards for overseas Pakistanis in the offing

Islamabad: The Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development (OP&HRD) is planning to launch health insurance cards for Pakistani diaspora to provide them free medical facilities along with their families back at home.

The idea to this effect was floated in a meeting between Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on OP&HRD Sayed Zulfikar Bukhari and Managing Director of Overseas Pakistanis Foundation Dr Amir Sheikh.

The initiative will be part of the government’s ongoing health insurance scheme launched across the country to provide affordable healthcare to the deserving people.

During the meeting, Zulfikar Bukhari said the health cards would be issued for the intending emigrants against Rs 2,000 charges per year.

He said the ministry would take every possible step to facilitate the overseas Pakistanis, who were playing critical role in strengthening national economy by sending huge amount of remittances to the country.

The government was giving top priority to the overseas Pakistanis in social protection project, special assistant added.

Amir assured the special assistant that his organization would take inclusive steps for the betterment of Pakistani expatriates.

Under the scheme, Zulfikar Bukhari said the special attention would be given to those districts where this initiative was not launched yet.
According the overseas ministry, around 10 million Pakistanis are residing in foreign countries and over 0.5 million go abroad every year for different job opportunities.

Recently, Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, and the OP&HRD have jointly launched ”Pakistani Health Diaspora” initiative to provide a platform to the health professionals, working in the various countries, to share their expertise for uplifting the country”s health sector.APP