ISLAMABAD : Wow ! What a budget for 2022-23. It has many peculiarities like the government has increased subsidy for Metro Bus , a brain child of Speedo prime minister , Shahbaz Sharif , from Rs 1 billion to Rs 4 billion in budgetary allocations for 2022-23, but it cut down the budget for health from Rs 155 billion of the last year to Rs 19.5 billion. Can one believe that a country with over 220 million population allocates Rs 4 billion for Metro Bus which runs in only 5 major cities and caters to the people of a particular areas gets subsidy of Rs 4 billion, but the entire health system of the country gets only allocation of Rs 19.5 billion?.
The Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) government had allocated Rs 155 billion for heath last year . The incumbent government simply reduced it to Rs 19.5 billion . Those who neglected this key area in budget making has left a simple, but loud and clear message that the health sector was not in its priority list of the present government.
