Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Wednesday that the "coterie of thieves" who ruled the country for decades failed to develop health infrastructure as they knew they could get treatment abroad, in another reference to political rivals from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Pakistan Peoples Party.

The premier said this while addressing an event to launch the "Naya Pakistan National Health Card Program" in Faisalabad.

Lauding the efforts of Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and Health Minister Yasmeen Rashid, he said that diseases like cancer, heart-related complications, etc., were the main reason for untimely deaths in Pakistan.

"Only the rich can get better, with treatment unaffordable for the majority in the country that is poor," he said, adding that the poor had to rely on charity, handouts or loans for medicare. "The State has never fulfilled its responsibiltiy in providing healthcare to the people."

The premier also asserted that Muslims of the Subcontinent had voted in favour of the creation of Pakistan at the time of partition despite knowing they wouldn't be able to live in Pakistan. "They voted for Allama Iqbal's dream," he asserted. It must be pointed out that several prominent Muslim leaders as well as the right wing Jamaat-e-Islami were against the creation of Pakistan.

"Coterie of thieves"

He pointed out that the state that was created was envisioned on the lines of the Riyasat-e-Madinah, but Pakistan's leaders had failed to deliver on that promise, in a reference to his political rivals.

The government hospitals left behind by the British were left to deteriorate, while private hospitals "I was born in a government hospital, but the affluent people of today will never opt for a government hospital for delivery," he said in another dig at his political rivals.

"The super-rich of the country, the coterie of thieves that were once in power, would go abroad even if they catch a cough," he said.

Over the last 30 years, the people supposedly responsibilie for the health of the people of Pakistan, have always gone abroad for even something as minor as a medical checkup.

"There's always news that someone is headed to either London, the US or Dubai on that pretext. How would they know the challenges faced by the people of Pakistan," he asserted.

Referrring to the PML-N and PPP leadership, he said that they would refer to each other as thieves until 20 years ago but had now joined hands. "Zardari was jailed during the PML-N government," he said.

"The purpose behind the creation of Pakistan wasn't that instead of Tata and Birla [like in India], Sharif and Zardari should become rich," he asserted.

While referring to Bilawal Bhutto Zardari as a "leader from Sindh who hasn't learned to speak Urdu properly despite the passage of 13 and a half years", PM Imran said that he was unwilling to allow expenditure in Sindh on the health insurance scheme [of the federal government], instead saying that they would allocate resources to hospital.

"Why did he not spend any money on hospitals in the last 13 and a half years?" asked Imran. He added that the sitaution in Sindh hospitals was deplorable. He also accused PPP Co-Chairman Asif Zardair of using money to buy politicians.

"I entered politics for the sole reason of waging a war against such corrupt individuals," he added.

"As long as these two families continue plundering the nation's wealth, we cannot have any future," he continued, while referring to the Sharifs and Bhutto/Zardari families.

Health card

"Pakistan has one of the worst doctor/nurse to patient ratio in the world. We don't have close to enough hospitals for our growing population," he said while addressing the event. "District hospitals often are lacking in doctors and nurses," he asserted.

He pointed out that the health card initative is a PTI-led government initiative under which each household can get medical treatment worth one million rupees from public and private hospitals.

Minister of State for Information Farrukh Habib, who was accompanying the premier, pointed out that 3.2 million families in Faisalabad, Toba Tek Singh, Jhang, Chiniot free medical treatment of Rs 1 million annually at selected private and government hospitals under the scheme.