The federal government is planning to issue health cards to families across Karachi if the Sindh government continues to resist joining the National Health Insurance Scheme, which is now in force across the country except Sindh. Officials told media on Friday.

An official from the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination (NHS, R&C) told the media, “If the Sindh government refuses to join the health insurance program, the Prime Minister’s Office is seriously considering to extend the health facility program to Karachi.”

The official said that providing National Health Card to all permanent residents of Karachi would cost only Rs 16 billion annually.

People from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Kashmir, Islamabad, Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan are now part of the PTI-led government’s health facility program and are benefiting from the health insurance scheme, which ensures that every family gets health services up to Rs. Million each year, the official said.