Amraiz Khan
Punjab is all set to enhance the scale of Sehat Sahulat Card Program to the general population with introduction of Health Insurance for every household in Sahiwal and Dera Ghazi Khan Divisions within the current fiscal year.
Health Minister Dr. Yasmin Rashid issued directives to this effect while chairing a meeting of the Punjab Health Initiatives Management Company here at the Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department on Friday.
The step will be a milestone in achieving the target of Universal Health Coverage in the province. The meeting was attended by 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, Regional Chief State Life Insurance Dr. Noorul Haq and Manager Khawar Majeed. The Health Minister reviewed the scale and quality of services provided to families under the Program sharing her insight on targets for Universal Health Coverage. The PHIMC team shared their targets with timelines for the Program especially the scale up and expansion plans.
The Health Minister said, “We are now formally moving to the next phase in which Universal Health Coverage will be provided to all the families in Punjab. Within the current fiscal year, we are now moving to cover all families in Sahiwal and Dera Ghazi Khan Divisions. These two divisions have been selected for this phase due to high rural population and socio economic inequalities. In Dera Ghazi Khan Division, people of Rajanpur, DG Khan District, Muzaffargarh and Layyah will be covered whereas in Sahiwal Division, Sahiwal District, Pakpattan and Okara will be covered.”
The Health Minister said, “We are eying December 2021 as the timeline for expansion of Health Insurance Coverage services to all the divisions of the province. We have set the target of covering all 22 million families across Punjab. In the first phase, Sehat Sahulat Program covered people below the poverty line in all the 36 districts of Punjab. We are gradually expanding the services to include all families of the province.”
The Minister reviewed the situation in Lahore and was apprised that people could avail services from 30 empanelled public and private hospitals. She was informed that over 250 hospitals have been empanelled across the province.
Dr. Yasmin Rashid said, ”we are trying to provide top quality services for card holders at Public and Private Sector Hospitals. As part of the Sehat Sahulat Program, addition of around 6000 beds has been made in Lahore. The Sehat Sahulat Program services are being currently provided to 5.2 million families and they shall be enhanced to 8.5 million families within the current fiscal year.
