The Punjab government on Monday revealed a series of ambitious health reforms in its provincial budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year, including the opening of the Nawaz Sharif Cancer Hospital in Lahore and the upgradation of Basic Health Units (BHUs) as Maryam Health Clinics throughout the province.
Tabling the budget in the Punjab Assembly amidst vehement protests by opposition lawmakers, Finance Minister Mian Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman announced that a state-of-the-art cancer treatment complex, to be named after former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, would be established in the provincial capital for an estimated Rs72 billion.
The hospital will cater to the increasing cancer burden in Punjab by providing specialized diagnosis and treatment to patients from all districts. “This effort will greatly minimize the need for cancer care for patients to go overseas or to private institutions,” Mr Shuja-ur-Rehman informed the House.
He also disclosed that a massive revamp of primary healthcare facilities was in progress, and BHUs were to be upgraded into Maryam Health Clinics.
The clinics, named after PML-N’s senior organiser Maryam Nawaz, will provide expanded primary healthcare services, with special emphasis on maternal and child health, immunisation, and computerised record-keeping.
This is not merely a renaming; it is a true paradigm shift in the quality and availability of grassroot healthcare provision in Punjab,” the minister said.
The finance minister’s address also underscored wider fiscal spending, with Rs2,706.5 billion allocated to non-development expenses, such as salaries, pensions, and operational expenditures.
The presentation of the budget was disrupted by boisterous slogans and walkouts organized by opposition members, who referred to the fiscal plans as “unrealistic” and “politically motivated.” But treasury members replied that the reforms represented a new era of fair and inclusive provision of healthcare.
