LAHORE: The Punjab government is going to scrutinise the beneficiaries of the health card scheme and take this service back from those who can afford the medical treatment on their own; however, it is yet to explain the criteria to do so.

Addressing a post-budget press conference here on Friday, Punjab Finance Minister Sardar Awais Khan Leghari said the government would remove from the scheme those who could afford medical treatment on their own but were registered with the health card scheme too. “Those who are more deserving would be added to this scheme,” he added. However, he didn’t speak about the criteria to remove or add the names in the scheme. On the other hand, he said the government had increased over Rs50bn for the health sector in the budget.

“The health card was a project launched by the PML-N government. But the PTI government tried to take credit for its launch,” Mr Leghari claimed.

He was flanked by Law Minister Malik Ahmad Khan, Planning & Development Department Chairman Ali Sarfraz Hussain and other senior officers.

Minister says ‘well-to-do people’ will be removed from the scheme

Talking to Dawn, an official of the finance department said the scheme would continue till June 30 since the PTI government had already paid the premium to the insurance company.

“The incumbent government is of the view that in the PTI’s health card scheme, everyone is eligible and many rich people are availing this facility. But with effect from July, the government will start scrutinising the scheme beneficiaries and remove those from it who don’t deserve to avail it,” he explained.

“However, the criteria is yet to be finalised by the government,” the official, requesting anonymity, added.

Another official source, when asked to comment on the government’s plan to scrutinise the health card scheme beneficiaries, wondered how the government would know about the financial condition of the beneficiaries at a time when even those receiving good salaries can’t afford major medical treatment due to inflation.

When contacted, Planning & Development Department Chairman Ali Sarfraz Hussain said the criteria to scrutinise the health card beneficiaries would be worked out soon.

“At present, all (rich, middle class and the poor) registered under the scheme are availing this facility. But the PML-N government doesn’t want to go with the same model in the future as it wants to withdraw this facility from the rich and use the insurance premium for the deserving people alone,” he said, adding that the data of the deserving people under the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) could be one of the tools to scrutinise the eligibility of the beneficiaries.

“Let’s see what the government prefers to do in this regard,” he said.

Published in Dawn, June 18th, 2022