Bilawal inaugurates 11 healthcare and welfare projects in Quetta

QUETTA: PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Friday inaugurated 11 public welfare and healthcare projects launched by the Balochistan government at a ceremony held at the Chief Minister Secretariat, including the province’s first air ambulance service and a trauma centre in Quetta.

The newly launched initiatives were presented as major steps aimed at improving healthcare delivery in Balochistan through modern facilities, wider access and public-focused services in the province.

Addressing the ceremony, Bilawal said healthcare was not a privilege but a basic right of every citizen, and said it remained part of the PPP’s ideology and long-term mission to provide free and quality medical treatment to people at their doorstep.

He praised Chief Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti and his team for completing all 11 public welfare and healthcare projects within two years, and said around a dozen more projects currently in the pipeline would be completed over the next three years. Bilawal also said he would return next month to inaugurate additional completed projects after Eid.

Bilawal said the PPP had consistently pursued people-centric and pro-poor politics and had worked to serve underprivileged and neglected parts of the country. He said support for ordinary citizens also strengthened the national economy.

He said Balochistan, Pakistan and the wider region, as well as the world, were facing multiple challenges that were contributing to economic hardship. "These economic difficulties may eventually turn into a full-fledged economic crisis, particularly worsening the hardships faced by underdeveloped regions and marginalised communities," he added.

He said no society or state should have a system in which citizens were denied medical treatment because they lacked money or resources, leading to the loss of their own lives or those of loved ones. He said this was why the PPP had always prioritised strengthening the public healthcare sector.

"Ever since I entered politics, it has been my effort to ensure that people are provided free and quality healthcare at their doorstep," he added.

Bilawal said Sindh’s healthcare performance was better than that of other provinces and expressed his wish to introduce similar healthcare initiatives in Balochistan. He also appreciated the Balochistan government’s measures for polio eradication.

Bugti links projects to reform agenda

Speaking at the event, Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti said the occasion marked not only the inauguration of several development schemes but also an important step towards changing the future of the people of Balochistan.

He said the provincial government was carrying out reforms in the education and health sectors and taking steps in line with Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s vision to ensure basic facilities for underprivileged communities.

Bugti said that in the past, people in the province could scarcely imagine having quality healthcare services available near their homes. He said projects such as a modern trauma centre, the People’s Air Ambulance and the Benazir Ambulance Service had now become a reality.

According to the chief minister, these initiatives reflected the vision and leadership of the PPP chairman. On the occasion, Bugti also announced that the modern trauma centre in Quetta would be named after Shaheed Benazir Bhutto.