‘BISP to provide Rs 25,000 health insurance to poor families’

Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) Chairperson Farzana Raja has said that under the Health Insurance Programme of BISP, Rs. 25,000 health insurance will be provided to the poorest families for the first time in the country.
She said this while giving a briefing to China Investment Corporation (CIC) delegation which was currently on a visit to Pakistan to explore the investment avenues in different fields.
She informed the delegation that the pilot project for the health insurance have been launched from Faisalabad.
Giving details of the programme, the BISP chairperson informed the delegation that the BISP was an independent authority with the president being the chief patron and the prime minister as the executive patron. Talking about BISP’s aim, the BISP chairperson said that the BISP was the marshal plan and the flagship programme of the government for women empowerment and poverty alleviation.
She told the delegation that there was no doubt about the transparency of the programme and there was a proper check and balance system in place for the utilization of funds. She further said the hallmark of the BISP was disbursing hundreds of billions of rupees among the deserving families with complete transparency.
The BISP chairperson also said that more than seven million beneficiary families have been identified through the Poverty Scorecard Survey and were receiving Rs 1000 per month sustainability money.
“Waseela-e-Haq is the first ever initiative for provision of interest free loans of up to Rs 300,000 to help the recipients set up small businesses”, she said.
Counselling, monitoring and training for starting the business was provided through the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF), she added.
The BISP chairperson informed the Chinese delegation that the BISP bill had been unanimously passed by the National Assembly and the Senate based on its performance.
She also said that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government believed in empowering females in the country, and under the programme, females of a family were given importance and all the funds were directly paid to them so as to ensure real women empowerment through financial independence.
Thousands of vulnerable female youths have already been trained and the target was to train 150,000 students every year so they could earn their livelihood in a respectable way, she added.