PESHAWAR Chief Minister Mahmood Khan on Saturday said his government introduced reforms in all sectors and executed development projects during the last four years.
He said the Sehat card scheme started on a limited scale by the previous PTI government was extended to the entire population in the province.
He said more than 7.5 million families were availing free treatment for various diseases including liver and kidney transplants.
The chief minister said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Universal Health Coverage Act 2022 had been enacted to give legal cover and formalize mechanisms for oversight and management of the programme.
In a statement, Mahmood Khan said more than three 3,000 doctors, including specialists, were recruited in the last four years to overcome the shortage of health staff in public sector hospitals. He added that provision of quality health services had also been ensured through outsourcing of various services in hospitals under the Public Private Partnership.
During the last one year, several projects have been completed in the health sector, he said.
He added that operationalization of Peshawar Institute of Cardiology, construction of new OPD block at KTH, construction of allied and surgical block at Lady Reading Hospital, Fountain House Peshawar, establishment of orthopedic and spine block in Hayatabad Medical Complex, upgradation of Bacha Khan Medical Complex Swabi to MTI, establishment of 200-bed Maternal and Child Hospital in Charsadda, construction of 120-bed new female block in DHQ Mardan were of vital of importance.
Mahmood Khan mentioned that progress was also being made on the establishment of four new tertiary care hospitals under public-private partnership in four different regions of the province and a comprehensive and workable model has been devised for this purpose.
He said a project had been launched to revamp all non-teaching district headquarters hospitals.
The chief minister said that a project for conversion of 200 BHUs and RHCs to 24/7 facilities had also been planned.
Touching upon the achievements in newly merged districts, he said 17 health facilities in various merged districts have been outsourced with the aim to ensure provision of better health facilities to people at local level.
He said Rs2 billion had been spent on the provision of medical equipment to health care facilities while Rs2.3 billion had been spent on the provision of emergency medicine.
The chief minister said that in the current financial year budget the allocation for Sehat Card Plus had been increased from Rs20 billion to Rs25 billion while Rs10 billion would be spent on providing free medicine including OPD medicine for the first time in the province.
Mahmood Khan said four new medical colleges would be established in different districts during the current financial year while three more hospitals would be given status of Medical Teaching Institution.