30mln Families In Punjab To Get Health Cards By Dec-end

The Punjab government will provide health facilities to more than 30 million families under the Insaf Sehat Sahulat programme by the end of the current year

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 27th Mar, 2021 ) :The Punjab government will provide health facilities to more than 30 million families under the Insaf Sehat Sahulat programme by the end of the current year.

The Punjab Health Department sources told APP on Saturday that the provincial government had already accorded approval for provision of healthcare facilities to all dwellers of the Pakistan's largest province. Under the programme every citizen would be able to avail health facility up to Rs 700,000.

According to the official sources, the Punjab Health Initiative Management Company (HIMC) has been mandated by the Specialised Healthcare and Medical education Department (SH&ME) for execution and implementation of the Sehat Sahulat Programme on its behalf.

The programmes objective is to improve access of the underprivileged population to good quality medical services, through a micro health insurance scheme.

Under the programme, beneficiaries would be provided with a health insurance card and two distinct packages would be given to the citizens.

The first package will provide secondary care coverage for hospitalisation up to Rs 60,000 per family per year as well as coverage for 8 priority diseases up to Rs 300,000 per family per year.

The sources said that entire hospitalization would be covered except for exclusions agreed upon with the insurance company.

After enrollment under the scheme, the beneficiary would be eligible to go to any empaneled hospital across the country.

He said that the services would be given to all members of the family without any restriction on number of family members.

A special feature of the programme is that pre-existing diseases would also be covered and coverage on yearly basis would be provided to all age groups. Both public and private healthcare facilities, provisionally licensed by Punjab Healthcare Commission are entitled for empanelment in the scheme.

The programme would cover one-day pre- and five-day post-hospitalisation expenses including medicines.

The sources said that transportation cost equal to Rs 1,000 per trip for three trips per year is also provided.

The provincial cabinet has already granted approval for provision of Sehat Sahulat Cards to the entire population living in the province.

The health coverage to the deserving families is divided in two categories: major and secondary diseases. Major refers to serious illness with up to Rs 600,000 limit, such as cardiac, liver, kidney, hepatitis diabetes; and secondary refers to relatively minor ailments with up to Rs 120,000 expenses of hospitalisation.

The provincial government had issued Sehat Insaf Cards to more than 5.1 million families in the first phase of the programme. The health cards would be issued to the government employees, journalists, educators, students of seminaries and others in the next phases, the sources said.