KP set to provide free healthcare to 14m more people

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is set to provide free healthcare services to 14 million people under the Sehat Sahulat Programme from the 1st January 2021.

Health Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra, who is also holding the portfolio of finance, told The News from January 1, the next year, the Universal Health Insurance Programme would be extended to six more districts of the province.

He said the initiation of the free medical treatment in Hazara Division has collectively increased admissions in public sector hospitals by 153 per cent. The minister said that Sehat Sahulat Card is a revolutionary project of the KP government under which poor and middle-class of the society would receive a free medical treatment facility up to Rs1 million annually.

Taimur Jhagra said since the launch of the Universal Health Programme from December 1, 2020, the rate of admission in hospitals has increased by 153 per cent. The minister said that as compared to admission of 241 patients in the hospitals during the first 10 days of November 2020, the number of patients during the first 10 days of December reached 610.

He said admission rate in the hospitals of Abbottabad had increased by 200 per cent while it had gone up by 124 per cent in Battagram 365 per cent in Kohistan, 1156 per cent in Buner, 34 per cent in Mansehra and 7 per cent in Shangla, respectively.

Taimur Jhgara said that admission to the hospitals of Malakand Division had increased by 100 per cent, proving that the Sehat Sahulat Card has enabled patients seeking healthcare in hospitals. He said that by that the end of January 2021, the programme would be extended to all districts of the province. From January 31, 2021, the residents of Kohat, Karak, Hangu, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Tank and Dera Ismail Khan will also be enrolled under Sehat Sahulat Programme.