Punjab’s all 29.3m families to get Sehat cards: minister

LAHORE:Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid announced here on Monday that the Cabinet had formally approved the provision of Sehat Insaf Cards to all families of the province.

Speaking at Seminar on Introduction of Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine by the Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department, the minister said that the campaign would initially start from 12 districts which are: Lahore, Rawalpindi Mianwali, Chakwal, Pakpattan, Multan, DG Khan, Layyah, Rajanpur, Mandi Bahauddin, Gujranwala and Faisalabad. Secretary Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department Usman Younis apprised the participants of the rationale of vaccine introduction.

The minister said, “I congratulate the department on the launching of a great campaign. Pakistan is third country in the world to start the typhoid vaccine campaign. Through this campaign, we want to prevent child from this disease. I am grateful to the World Health Organization, Unicef and other partners for their support.”

Dr Yasmin Rashid said, “By December 2021, Punjab’s all 29.3 million families registered with Nadra will be given Sehat Sahulat cards. In the first phase, all seven districts of Sahiwal and Dera Ghazi Khan Divisions shall be given cards. The Sehat Sahulat Card holders can avail free treatment services upto Rs720,000. The card holders will be able to avail free treatment facility from all empanelled hospitals all over Pakistan. For the first time in history, a government has started such a programme of free healthcare for the poor. Prime Minister Imran Khan had promised improvement in health and education when he took over.”

Meanwhile, the minister gave one week deadline to Medical Superintendent District Headquarters Hospital Kasur (DHQ) Dr Muhammad Laeeq Ch to improve performance. On directions from the minister, Director General Health Services Punjab Dr Haroon Jehangir visited the DHQ Kasur with his technical team. The DG checked staff attendance, medicine stock, emergency, indoor and outdoor, laboratory, X-Ray and Blood Bank, corona ward, EPI, Mother and Child unit and status of facilities. The DG was accompanied by his technical team including Dr Younis, Dr Sohail, Rao Alamgir and members of the roadmap team. The health minister said immunisation of every child must be ensured. Delay in eye check-up unit shall not be tolerated. The hospital staff must ensure implementation of SOPs by patients and visitors. The DG must submit report on performance in the DHQ after one week and stringent monitoring of all hospitals of Punjab will continue, she said.