Govt determined to provide 100% free medical facilities to deserving patients: PM

• JMC to serve residents of twin cities, KP, AJK and GB: PM.
• PM Says air ambulance service to be started for hard-to-reach areas.
• "Deserving patients would avail 100% free lab tests facility".

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that the government is determined to provide state-of-the-art free healthcare services to deserving patients from across the country at the Jinnah Medical Complex in Islamabad, which he said would be one of the best medical facilities in the region.

Addressing the groundbreaking ceremony of the complex, the prime minister said that the facility will offer 100% free medical services. 

"This is the gift of the coalition government not only for the residents of Rawalpindi and Islamabad but for the people from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan as well," he said.

Premier said that once completed, the medical complex would offer the world's best healthcare facilities with various sections of diseases related to heart, kidneys, lungs, cancer, and others.

He said that a modern first aid emergency section would also be established at the hospital with an air ambulance service for patients in hard-to-reach areas.

PM Shehbaz pledged that the nursing schools and laboratories would also be established in the hospital and the deserving patients would avail 100% free lab tests facility.

The prime minister emphasised that this was the same model envisioned by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif to provide free medical facilities only to the poor and on-payment facilities to the well-off people at the same place.

He specifically thanked Habib Bank Limited (HBL) Chairman Sultan Ali Allana and Prince Rahim Agha Khan for providing technical consultancy support free of cost for the project. He paid tribute to the decades-long services of the Agha Khan Foundation for the country.

PM Shehbaz directed the authorities concerned to complete the project in one year. 

"Although one year is a challenging deadline for the huge project but with determination and hard work, it was quite possible," he said, while issuing directives to continue work on the project round the clock to meet the deadline. 

He assured that there would be no funding problems from the government side.

PM Shehbaz Sharif also expressed his gratitude to Islamabad Chief Commissioner Ali Randhawa for providing land for the project, as well as the finance minister, finance secretary and planning minister for their support for the project.

As regards compensation to the land affected people, the prime minister directed to provide one-window facility to the affected people to resolve their problems without any delay.