Prime Minister Imran Khan has approved a blanket ban on overseas medical treatment for cabinet ministers and other officials.
The decision was taken in a cabinet meeting on Thursday evening which bars all cabinet members, state ministers, advisers and assistants from going abroad for medical treatment on government’s expenses.
A notification has been issued in this regard which states that the ban also applies on federal secretaries and divisional in-charge(s) of different ministries.
This ban is a continuation of PTI government’s austerity drive which PM Imran hinted in his maiden speech after the electoral victory in 2018 general elections.
The Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhary made similar announcements following the cabinet’s first meeting on August 24.
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Fawad had informed media that the government was going to take several austerity measures including the sale of excess number of vehicles in government offices, extending working hours in public offices, reducing the number of servants in PM house from 521 to just 5, turning the PM house into a university and barring ministers and government officials from foreign trips on public money.
He had also announced the government was curbing discretionary funds for the ministers while revealing that the PML-N government had used Rs 51 billion in discretionary funds in the last year alone.
He said the government would hold a detailed discussion in the parliament before releasing funds for any infrastructural project.
