State Life suspends free health services in KP

PESHAWAR: The State Life Insurance Corporation of Pakistan (SLICP) has once again announced to suspend its free health services to patients in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under the Sehat Card Plus Programme due to lack of payment by the provincial government.

The former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government had initiated the Sehat Card Plus programme in the province in 2018-19.

“The is with reference to our notice regarding the resumption of services under the Sehat Card Plus Programme dated 20th April 2023. We would regretfully like to advise all panel hospitals working under Sehat Card Plus Programme KP to stop taking new admissions under the Sehat Card Plus Program, KP w.e.f May 9th 2023, till further directions. However, all admitted cases before the mentioned date would complete their treatment.

“As communicated earlier the health desks of the Sehat Card Plus Programme at your hospitals would remain closed, however, the health facilitators, district medical officers and provincial medical officers are hereby advised to be available for patient counselling and preparation of the claims. All private panel hospitals are further advised to refer cases to the public sector hospitals in the absence of Sehat Card Plus coverage,” the State Life Insurance Corporation of Pakistan announced in a statement, a copy of which was also sent to The News.

The insurance company had announced to suspend its free health coverage on April 19, two days before Eidul Fitr due to lack of payment by the government. The caretaker government through the chief secretary then immediately approached the insurance company and vowed to make payment of Rs2 billion before Eid and then pay a similar amount immediately after Eid.

The officials said the KP government paid Rs2 billion before Eid and promised to make more payment after Eid vacations.

They said the insurance company on the commitment of chief secretary resumed their services and issued a notification by asking their employees to facilitate the patients.

However, the company officials said the provincial government did not fulfill their promise to make further payments, prompting the service provider to suspend their coverage from May 9.

“The government didn’t pay Rs2 billion arrears for March and Rs4 billion for April and now they have to pay Rs4 billion for May. The government needs to make these payments if it wants the insurance company to resume its free health services,” an official of the insurance company said on condition of anonymity. He said the provincial government would need to pay Rs12 billion to the company till June 2023, and the company will provide uninterrupted services to the patients. The KP government has already stated that it was facing serious financial difficulties to meet its expenses. “The federal government is to pay Rs238 billion to the KP government as its arrears. The provincial government has reminded the federal government a number of times to make these payments so that the provincial government can focus on its commitments,” an official of the provincial government told The News.

Pleading anonymity, he said the government had ceased all developmental projects in the province due to lack of funds, saying it was high time for the federal government to take note of KP’s financial problems.

The government launched free health services in the province in 2016 and extended it to 100 percent of the province in 2019-2020.

There are multiple issues in the programme, with complaints of the Sehat Card Plus system being misused by the surgeons by undertaking unnecessary surgical procedures to make money, but overall it has proved a blessing for the KP people as they used to get free health services for different diseases, which otherwise they would have to pay for.

If the free healthcare system is suspended, it will have extreme negative impact on 9,780,000 families as they will no longer be able to get free health coverage.

The KP government this year paid Rs21 billion to the insurance company, including Rs5.5 billion arrears of the previous year.