PESHAWAR: People from different walks of life are applying for Sehat Insaf Cards to be able to get free treatment at the hospitals of their choice but such requests are unlikely to be entertained because the project is exclusively meant for people living below the poverty line, according to sources.

The provincial government launched the mega project on January 1 with a total outlay of Rs5.4 billion to provide free treatment facilities to poor patients.

Sources said that associations representing lawyers, journalists, transgender persons and artists had approached the provincial government to get enlisted for free treatment under the programme.

“The authorities say that they can consider their requests if their departments concerned pay part of the money to the government,” they added.

Application of people from different walks of life unlikely to be entertained

The programme is aimed at providing medical treatment to the people whose daily income is below $2.

More than 30,000 patients had been treated under the programme during the past five months in about 100 designated hospitals including Lady Reading Hospital, Hayatabad Medical Complex, Khyber Teaching Hospital, Ayub Teaching Hospital, Rehman Medical Institute, North West General Hospital and Research Centre.

“The people, who don’t fulfil the criteria for free treatment, are also trying to be enrolled among the beneficiaries,” said sources.

The programme, which aims to provide treatment to 1.8 million households over a period of two years for all diseases in the province, has also got the attention of the people, who aren’t entitled to get cards.

Sources in the health department told Dawn that the proposal to include more people in the programme was discussed in a couple of meetings but no decision was taken yet.

Relevant officials said that the programme became popular because of the fast-track treatment of the deserving patients at the reputed hospitals of the province.

“If government wants to include lawyers, journalists and others in the programme, the departments concerned have to pay on their behalf because it would be an encroachment on the right of the poor people,” they said.

Under the programme, a patient gets free treatment at any hospital in Peshawar or in any district of the province. “Except Dir Upper, Buner, Bannu, Karak and Hangu, the State Life Insurance Corporation has signed agreements with hospitals for free treatment of the patients,” said officials.

So far, Rs550 million had been spent on free treatment of the patients. As the people’s interest in the programme has gown, the health department has also started investigations into the Sehat Insaf Cards and seized few dozens for wrong claims for treatment.

Sources said that authorities foiled attempt by several patients, who wanted to get treatment on the card issued to their relatives or neighbours while others tried to use fake cards. They were caught red-handed, they added.

Sources said that there were also reports that local nazims distributed cards to wrong people that were detected by a system installed at the special counters at each of the designated hospitals.

In some cases people attempted to avail free treatment by using cards manufactured somewhere else, they added.

Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2017