Punjab to replicate health protection initiative for poor

Islamabad: The government of Punjab Wednesday signed a contract for implementation of the Sehat Sahulat Programme—the government’s Social Health Protection initiative for poor families—in all districts of the province.

The contract was signed at a ceremony held at the Ministry of Health in the presence of Minister Aamer Mehmood Kiani, and Chief Executive Officer of the Punjab Health Initiative Management Company, Zaheer Abbas Malik.

Beneficiaries of the initiative will be able to avail free of cost health insurance to secure indoor healthcare services worth Rs720,000 from empanelled hospitals.

The Punjab government will provide ‘Sehat Insaf Cards’ to around 6 million families of Punjab who are living below the poverty line of US $2 per day. Indoor healthcare services available from this facility include open heart surgeries, insertion of stents, management of cancer, neurosurgical procures, burn management, accident management, dialysis, intensive care management, deliveries, C-sections and other medical and surgical procedures.

The program will also provide Rs1,000 as transportation cost to beneficiaries at the time of discharge from hospital. There is also a provision for burial support of Rs10,000 in case of death in the hospital, and of inter-provincial and inter-district portability for availing free services from any empanelled hospital across the country.