The Chief Minister (CM) of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Mahmood Khan, announced that the Sehat Card Plus program will now cover the treatment of liver transplants and the Outpatient Department (OPD) services.
Addressing a ceremony in Peshawar to mark the first anniversary of the Sehat Card Plus scheme, he said that the treatment of critical diseases like cancer, and kidney transplants had been included, and free liver transplants have now been added to the program.Other diseases that require expensive treatments will also be covered under the health insurance scheme.
Provincial Ministers, Taimoor Salim Jhagra and Kamran Bangash, Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, Members of the Provincial Assembly, Fakhar Jehan and Sultan Khan, and other concerned officials attended the ceremony.
CM Khan said that the Sehat Card Plus program is an important step towards the accomplishment of the Prime Minister’s vision for the establishment of a welfare state.
“[The] Sehat Card Plus is not only a program of free treatment but it has been proved to be a complete package of social protection, which is also helping to reduce poverty and raise the standard of life of the common man,” he said.
The CM also mentioned that the health insurance scheme had begun on a limited scale during the previous tenure of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, and it had decided to extend the scheme to the entire province after it assumed power in the center in 2018.
“This flagship project has been recognized and appreciated at national and international level and now the other provinces are also launching health cards,” he added.
CM Khan told the attendees that the Sehat Card Plus program allows each household to get free medical treatment of up to Rs. 1 million per annum.
“During the last year, 650,000 people received free treatment facilities under the scheme with a cumulative cost of Rs. 11.5 billion,” he said and added that 953,000 people have availed themselves of free treatment facilities since the scheme was launched.
The CM also detailed that the health insurance scheme has covered treatments of over 5,000 cardiac, 64 kidney transplant, and over 100,000 kidney dialysis patients.
