KP transgender people complain of inactive Sehat cards

PESHAWAR: The transgender community of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has complained that the “Sehat Insaf Cards” issued to them by the Health Department are inactive and do not work when submitted in the hospitals for treatment.

This was revealed by the transgender persons at a sensitisation session held by Blue Veins in collaboration with Right Here Right Now (RHRN) on Thursday.The purpose of the session with the key stakeholders was to strengthen support to improve healthcare facilitation for transgender persons.

Farzana Jan, president of TransAction Association, and general secretary Arzu said that the transgender community faced embarrassment when the hospitals’ management returned their “Sehat Insaf Cards” with the observations that they are inactive and there is no money in the account.

They revealed that the KP government’s allocated fund of Rs200 million had been reduced to Rs60 million without carrying out any developmental scheme for the transgender persons in the province.

However, the minorities MPAs Wazirzada from Kalash community and Ravi Kumar assured the transgender community that they would raise their “Sehat Insaf Cards” and funds issue with the ministers concerned.

Qamar Naseem, program coordinator, Blue Veins, explained the key findings of the research on “Barriers to the Provision of and Access to Quality Healthcare for Transgender Population of Pakistan.” Highlighting the shortcomings of the health care system, he mentioned that existing health care providers and facilities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa do not cater to the healthcare needs of the transgender community.

“There is widespread ignorance, insensitivity and discrimination in relation to healthcare needs of the transgender and intersex community, which is a violation of very basic human right, i.e. access to quality health care,” he said.