Govt urged to empanel Takhtbhai hospital for Sehat Card

TAKHTBHAI: The entire Takhtbhai population and people of Shergarh area of Mardan district can’t avail themselves of the Sehat Sahulat Card initiative as the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health department has yet to empanel the Tehsil Headquarter (THQ) Hospital Takhtbhai for the Sehat Card and free healthcare.

The government had restored the provision of healthcare under the Sehat Sahulat Card programme to those holding computerised national identity cards but the population of the Takhtbhai tehsil have yet to be covered by the scheme.

The THQ Hospital Takhtbhai, known as “Ganjai hospital”, caters to the majority of the local population of Takhtbhai, Lundkhwar, Shergarh and other adjacent areas.

According to statistics available on the health card website, presently there are only two government hospitals in Mardan district on the panel of the health department to cater for patients under the insurance programme, ie Mardan Medical Complex and District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital Mardan, besides and two other private hospitals.

An official of the District Health Office (DHO) Mardan said that the DHO took up the issue with the KP health department to empanel the only THQ hospital on the health card scheme, but to no avail.

Deprived from the health insurance and other basic facilities, the THQ Takhtbhai is located in the hometown of PTI senior leader and MNA Ali Mohammad Khan and MPA Iftikhar Mashwani.

The people have demanded of the two lawmakers to intervene and empanel the hospital on Sehat Sahulat Card programme.

Moreover, the hospital also lacks sterilisation autoclaves machines and hygiene kits facilities, compromising the health and safety of doctors and patients alike.

On the one hand, there is no operation facility to perform C-section procedures on health cards while on the other hand, the lack of a sterilisation autoclaves machine is compromising the health of expectant mothers who have to visit far-off areas to acquire the facilities of C-section procedures.