PESHAWAR: A member of the provincial assembly (MPA) of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has challenged the federal government’s act of stopping funding for free medical treatment of the residents of tribal districts under the Sehat Card Plus (SCP) programme and non-provision of three per cent share in the National Finance Commission’s divisible pool for the region previously called Fata.

In the petition, Mohammad Shafiq Afridi requested the Peshawar High Court to declare that the people of tribal districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are entitled to their due share under the NFC Award, which is three per cent of the NFC divisible pool.

He prayed the court to declare that the act of the federal government to stop funding for the SCP in respect of the people of tribal districts is illegal and rooted in malice.

The petitioner, who belongs to Khyber tribal district, requested the court to order the federal government for the release of funding for the SCP for the people of tribal districts.

He also challenges non-provision of share in NFC Award to tribal districts

He requested the court to direct the federal government to immediately release the share in the NFC of tribal districts for their development.

The respondents in the petition filed through Ali Gohar Durrani advocate included the federal government through the secretary of the Cabinet Division, Finance Division through its secretary, national health services ministry through its secretary, planning and development ministry through its secretary,Council of Common Interest and National economic Council through their respective secretaries, KP chief secretary, and provincial health and finance secretaries.

The petitioner said the provincial government had initiated its flagship ‘Sehat Card Universal Health Care Card’ programme for its citizens.

He said under the programme, more than 7.2 million families of KP were getting free in-patient health services.

The petitioner said initially, the facility was launched in some parts of the province but later, it was extended to the entire province, where people were able to get healthcare free of charge at private and public sector hospitals.

He said the previous government at the centre had initiated a scheme like the Sehat Card for the people of tribal districts, but the two programs were run without harmony.

The petitioner said to harmonise the two health schemes which were at variance, the KP finance minister had written a letter to the federal finance minister on Oct 10, 2021, seeking the transfer of funding to the province for the population of tribal districts in respect of the Sehat Card programme.

He said as a consequence, the national health services ministry moved a summary to the then prime minister for harmonising the Sehat Card packages.

The petitioner said the proposal was approved by the then prime minister on Feb 21, 2022, and the same was communicated to the chief executive officer of the Social Health Protection Initiative of the health department through a letter on Feb 23, 2022.

Referring to several written communications among the KP government, NHS ministry and finance division, he said no action was taken by the federal government to ensure continuity of services to residents of tribal districts.

As an interim arrangement, he said the provincial government had agreed to ensure continuity of the Sehat Card facility to the people of tribal districts.

He added that the director of the Social Health Protection Initiative wrote a letter on July 5 to the State Life Insurance Corporation of Pakistan whereby decision of the Provincial Cabinet in respect of shifting the Sehat Card beneficiaries of tribal districts to the SCP was communicated but it was made clear that it was an interim arrangement.

The petitioner said the share of tribal districts as per the NFC Award, which came to three per cent and had to be contributed by the three provinces (other than Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and the federation had not yet materialised.

He added that the provincial assembly had adopted a resolution asking the federal government to grant three per cent of the NFC’s divisible pool for the development of tribal districts.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2022