The Central Development Working Party or CDWP gave go-ahead on Monday to two projects worth Rs345.62 billion and recommended them to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council or ECNEC for further consideration.

The meeting was presided over by Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Mohammad Jehanzeb Khan and was attended, among others, by Secretary Planning Hamid Yaqoob Sheikh and senior officials of the Planning Commission and federal ministries/divisions.

A project related to health was presented in the meeting, ‘Implementation of universal health coverage under health insurance programme in Punjab’ worth Rs332.84 billion was recommended to the ECNEC for further consideration.

The main objective of the programme includes insurance scheme coverage for 100% population of Punjab on CNICs issued by NADRA.

The scheme will provide cashless in-patient healthcare secondary and priority care services through an open enrollment policy. There is no limit to family size.

The health insurance programme is mainly a hospitalization scheme; daycare admissions will also be covered in the programme. Household members of the family will be able to avail health coverage, including accessing the secondary care hospitalization component and maternity benefits.

Another project related to the Higher Education Commission was presented in the meeting ‘Higher Education Development in Pakistan (HEDP) Revised’ worth Rs12.78 billion was also recommended by the forum to ECNEC for approval.

The period of completion and expected date of completion is 60 months. The main objective of the projects is to focus on low and equitable participation for students from disadvantaged backgrounds; poor quality of teaching and research conditions (including inadequate and irrelevant research, and limited links between HEIs and the industrial and services sectors of the economy); below-par institutional governance and management, especially lack the Higher Education Management Information System (HEMIS), which severely complicates long-term sectoral and institutional planning, monitoring, and accountability.

The deputy chairman of the Planning Commission directed all officials concerned to ensure the completion of the projects within prescribed timelines, as they were crucial for the socio-economic well-being of the people.

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source https://www.samaa.tv/news/2021/10/cdwp-approves-punjab-health-insurance-scheme-worth-rs332b/