ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: As many as 278,830 families received free health services in Islamabad under the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) started by the previous Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government in the Federal Capital on January 01, 2022.
To a question by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) lawmaker Ms. Tahira Aurangzeb, the Minister for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination apprised the National Assembly on Friday that the Universal Health Coverage for Islamabad was started on January 01, 2022 covering all the permanent resident families of Islamabad till December 15, 2023.
The House was told that the total number of families with health card services were approximately 278,830 (approximately 933,720 individual persons registered with the National Database & Registration Authority (NADRA) in Islamabad) till December 15, 2023.
However later, during the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) meeting held on February 07, 2024, the population coverage was restricted to below poverty population (family with less than 32.5 Proxy Means Test (PMT) Score in the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) Survey.
The House was apprised that the current below-poverty families of Islamabad are approximately 3,246 (apporxmately 17,301 individual persons).
It was told that the services of the program have been suspended since December 16, 2024 due to non-clearance of ECNEC’s approved liabilities/ insurance premium to the contracted insurance company – State Life Insurance Corporation of Pakistan (SLIC).
 started by the previous Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government in the Federal Capital on January 01, 2022.){kind=link}