100pc population of 6 KP districts gets free treatment facility

PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Mahmood on Friday formally launched the third phase of the extension of Sehat Card Plus Scheme to the entire population of the province.

Besides provincial cabinet members and government functionaries, parliamentarians and media persons attended the special ceremony arranged for the purpose.

Under the third phase, the scheme has been extended to the 100 per cent population of six districts, including Peshawar, Mardan, Charsadda, Swabi, Nowshera and Haripur, said an official handout.

With the completion of the third phase of extension, 10.4 million populations of these districts will get free medical treatment facilities in the enlisted public and private sector hospitals.

It may be recalled that in the first two phases of extension, Sehat Card Plus was provided to the entire population of Hazara and Malakand regions.

Addressing the launching ceremony as chief guest, the chief minister termed the Sehat Card Plus Scheme as a flagship programme and pr-poor initiative of the present government.

He said the extension of the scheme to the entire population of the province was an important step towards Prime Minister Imran Khan's vision of welfare state, adding that the scheme would ensure the provision of free treatment facilities to all the peoples of the province without any discrimination.

Mahmood khan said by the end of January 2021, the scheme would be rolled out to the cent per cent population of the entire province, adding the government was spending around 18.00 billion rupees on the scheme annually.

He said that the scheme had already been extended to the 100 per cent population of the newly merged districts but with lesser coverage of Rs.600,000 per household per annum.

Mahmood Khan announced that from the new financial year, the annual coverage of Rs 600,000 for merged districts would also be increased to one million rupees to bring it on a par with that of the settled districts. He stated that in the larger interest of the people of the province, the KP government had decided to get kidney and liver transplants covered under the Sehat Card Scheme.

"Sehat Card Plus is Scheme not only meant for free treatment facilities rather it is a complete package of social protection", he remarked.

The chief minister added that besides providing free treatment facilities to the public, the scheme would help reduce the poverty rate in the province and improve living standard of the people.

Earlier, addressing the launching ceremony, KP Minister for Health Taimur Saleem Jhagra said with the extension of the scheme to the entire population of Malakand and Hazara regions, admissions of patients in government hospitals of Malakand and Hazara regions had increased.