Demand to enlist INOR in Sehat Sahulat Card services

MANSEHRA: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has included cancer in free treatment services under Sehat Sahulat Card but has not listed any health facility in the Hazara division to serve the patients.

“My husband is suffering from cancer but is still going without treatment due to the extreme poverty,” Shaheen Bibi, a resident of Pulrah area, told reporters here.

She said her husband Mohammad Ashraf had taken her entire family to Islamabad as he worked there at a hotel as a waiter.

“He has now been diagnosed with cancer and we shifted him to our native Pulrah area here but couldn’t have him treated because of the poverty,” she said.

Shaheen Bibi said her husband had applied for the treatment through the Baitulmal fund. Around two months had passed since the process on the application was started but the case for free treatment could not to be approved.

She said free of cost treatment services for cancer patients was an uphill task and time consuming as this entire process was initiated from district to the regional office in Peshawar and then to its headquarters in Islamabad.

“My husband was diagnosed as a cancer patient at the Institute of Nuclear Medicine, Oncology and Radiotherapy (INOR) in Abbottabad but his treatment couldn’t be initiated as we cannot afford such high expenses,” said Shaheen Bibi.

She demanded the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to include INOR its health facilities so that poor patient could avail that service without such hardship.

Malik Jibran, chairman, District Zakat Committee, said cancer patients ratio among all those applying for the free treatment was much higher than that of other diseases.

“Around 65 per cent who apply for the treatment from the Zakat funds are cancer patients and most of them are women suffering from breast and blood cancer,” explained Malik Jibran.

He said patients applying for free treatment services for all other diseases, including diabetes and cardiac illness were hardly 35 per cent.

“If the government includes INOR in its health facilities list, the patients could avail treatment services without any hardship,” said the District Zakat Committee chairman.