Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has reviewed progress on key health initiatives and reaffirmed her government’s commitment to providing free medical treatment across the province.
Chairing a high-level meeting in Lahore, the Chief Minister was briefed on four major healthcare programmes aimed at supporting children and underprivileged patients. Officials informed her that under the children’s heart surgery programme, 16,625 children have been registered so far. More than 11,000 successful heart surgeries have already been performed, including 7,664 procedures in public hospitals across Punjab.
The initiative has also been extended to private hospitals to speed up treatment. Under this arrangement, 3,802 deserving children have received free medical care funded by the provincial government.
During the meeting, details of the CM Special Transplant Programme were also shared. A total of 2,001 patients have been registered, and 1,574 successful transplants have been carried out. These include 255 liver transplants provided completely free of cost, with the government spending around Rs6.5 million on each surgery.
The programme has further facilitated 799 kidney transplants, 460 cochlear implants, 32 corneal transplants, and 28 bone marrow transplants — all without charging patients.
Officials also briefed the chief minister on the dialysis programme. So far, 38,125 patients have been registered and more than 1.5 million dialysis sessions have been conducted across Punjab.
Speaking on the occasion, Maryam Nawaz said the government is determined to ensure equal access to quality healthcare for every citizen. She emphasized that children from poor families deserve the same level of treatment and care as those from wealthy backgrounds, adding that no patient should be denied medical help due to financial difficulties.
