HYDERABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) vice president Syed Shah Mohammed Shah on Saturday inaugurated the Qasimabad centre of the Prime Minister’s National Health Programme under which health cards are being issued to low-income citizens so that they could receive quality health services at selected major hospitals within their areas of residence.

The audience at the inauguration ceremony was informed that a total of 123,656 cards would be issued within three months to deserving people of Hyderabad district alone. Seven card distribution centres have been set up in Qasimabad, Latifabad Unit-7, Phulelli, Market Tower, Tando Fazal, Tandojam and Hatri under the management of an NGO, the Microsoft Development Foundation (MDF).

Speaking at the ceremony, Shah Mohammed Shah said that the PML-N, under the leadership of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, was serving the masses without any discrimination of caste, creed, colour, religion and political affiliation.

He said that the health cards were being issued to deserving people across the country, adding that currently they were being distributed in Sujawal, Tando Mohammad Khan and other districts of Sindh.

“This enormous public welfare project has nothing to do with political gain,” he claimed.

The PML-N leader also criticised opponents for maligning Nawaz Sharif and his family members by accusing them of having indulged in corruption. He said the PM and his family had willingly presented themselves to the Supreme Court for accountability.

“Nawaz Sharif does not want any confrontation between national institutions and that’s way his sons are appearing before the investigators appointed by the apex court,” he said, adding that the judiciary was completely independent and the PML-N government wanted the parliament to maintain its supremacy too.

“We want a sustainable democracy to flourish in the country and will frustrate any attempt to derail it,” he said. “Now, no judge will be willing to become Maulvi Mushtaque,” he remarked.

Commenting on the aggravating energy crisis in the country, Mr Shah alleged that “[members of] a corrupt mafia who are friends of opposition leader Syed Khurshid Shah are sitting in government departments and resisting efforts to overcome the energy crisis in the country.”

Senior PML-N activists belonging to its Hyderabad division and district chapters including Shah Zaman Shah, Qamar Zaman Rajpar, Khalid Shaikh and Raja Ghazanfar Ali attended the programme.

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2017