Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday inaugurated the bone marrow transplant institute at Gambat Institute of Medical Sciences in Khairpur district and expressed his joy over the advancement of Sindh’s healthcare sector.
He also reiterated his vision of providing free healthcare to all parts of Pakistan. At the inauguration, the PPP chairman announced that the bone marrow transplant treatment at Gambat was now 100 percent free.
He said that there was no other hospital like the Gambat Institute of Medical Sciences where free treatment for liver, kidney, bone marrow and cancer was being provided. He stated that the citizens were suffering from several diseases such as thalassemia, and the bone marrow transplant would leave a great impact on the lives of people seeking treatment. He also said 100 percent free cancer treatment and world class facilities were offered at Gambat.
“The aim is to open such centres in other cities as well so that those suffering from severe medical injuries due to fires and accidents can be treated in the best possible way,” he said.
“Gambat from today is the medical capital of Pakistan,” Bilawal added. “I challenge all the provincial governments of the country to build a hospital like Gambat Institute of Medical Sciences, where free treatment for liver, kidney, bone marrow and cancer is provided,” he said.
Bilawal revealed that Sindh had broken the national record by providing 550 free liver transplants. “Amongst these, 52% people were from Sindh, 29% were from Punjab, 15% from Balochistan, and 3% from KP,” he said.
He said that Punjab had a liver and kidney institute that performs transplants, but the number of people from Punjab that Gambat treated is more than the overall patients that the hospital admitted.
Bilawal said that when the PPP had formed the government, the Waseela-e-Sehat card was introduced to help the poverty-ridden masses. He said that when Nawaz Sharif came, he changed its name to PM Health Card, and now the PTI has called it the ‘Sehat Insaf Card’.
“But you need a brain to even copy a bright idea,” he said. “The way they are running our card is wrong. We offered it to the poor – their card offers a subsidy of Rs500,000 to Rs600,000 to private hospitals.”
He said the selected government could run the healthcare sector better if some of the money was given to the poor, and the rest was utilised in the budget of government hospitals. “Their current health card is a theft of the health budget, as this money will be given to private insurance companies.”
“If you utilize your finances properly, you will also be able to make world class hospitals like Gambat,” he said.
