Sehat Sahulat Card Program Scale Being Enhanced : Minister

LAHORE, (Muzaffargarh.City – 18th Dec, 2020 ) :Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid Friday said the scale and scope of Sehat Sahulat Card program was being enhanced to include Health Insurance for every household in Sahiwal and Dera Ghazi Khan divisions within the current fiscal year. She was chairing a meeting of Punjab Health Initiatives Management Company (PHIMC) here at the Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department (P&SHD). She said the two divisions were selected for this phase due to large rural population and socio-economic inequalities. “The step would be a milestone in achieving the target of universal health coverage (UHC) in the province”,Health Minister said, adding that “the province is formally moving to the next phase in which UHC would be provided to all families in Punjab”. The minister said that in Dera Ghazi Khan division, people of Rajanpur, DG Khan District, Muzaffargarh and Layyah would be covered, whereas in Sahiwal division, Sahiwal district, Pakpattan and Okara would be covered. “We are eying December 2021 as the deadline for expansion of Health Insurance Coverage services to all the divisions of the province,” She said. The minister said the target of covering all 22 million families across the province was set by the government. ” In the first phase, Sehat Sahulat Program covered people below poverty line in all 36 districts of Punjab, and we are gradually expanding the services to include all families of the province, ” she said. Dr.

Yasmin Rashid said the government was trying to provide good services to the card holders in public and private sector hospitals. She said that for success of Sehat Sahulat Program around 6000 beds were added in the provincial capital. She said that the Sehat Sahulat Program services were being currently provided to 5.2 million families and will cover 8.5 million families within the current fiscal year. She informed the card holders would be able to avail free treatment and surgery facilities from panel linked public and private hospitals. She said that all dialysis centres were being linked to ensure provision of free dialysis facilities to card holders. Dr Yasmin added that cardiac treatment and surgeries were also a part of the coverage. The Health Minister reviewed the scale and quality of services provided to families under the program.The PHIMC team shared their targets while citing “timelines” for the program, especially the ‘scale up and expansion plans’. Earlier, the minister reviewed the situation in Lahore and she was apprised that people could avail services from 30 panel linked public and private hospitals. She was informed that over 250 hospitals were brought on panel across the province.Special Secretary Specialized Healthcare and Medical education Department Silwat Saeed, Additional Secretary Development SHME Dr. Asif Tufail, CEO PHIMC Dr. Ali Razzaq, Director HR Khurram Lodhi and Regional Chief State Life Insurance Dr. Noorul Haq attended the meeting.