PESHAWAR: The State Life Insurance Corporation (SLIC) has stopped new admissions for free treatment of patients under Sehat Card Plus programme owing to non-payment of dues by the provincial government.

SLIC, which is implementing the free health initiative for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, has asked the hospitals empanelled for the programme to stop admitting new patients on SCP till further order.

“All the panel hospitals working under SCP in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are hereby advised to stop taking new admissions from April 20 (Thursday),” said a letter signed by the zonal head of SLIC.

It said that the health desks of Sehat Card Plus programme at the hospitals would remain closed. “However, the health facilitators, district medical officer and provincial medical officer are hereby advised to be available for patient counselling and preparation of the claims,” it added.

Hospitals to continue to facilitate already admitted patients

Sources in the health department said that the government had to pay Rs14 billion to the insurance company in lieu of the expenses on the treatment of patients in the empanelled hospitals.

The government had agreed two months ago that it would release Rs4 billion every month of which the insurer would retain Rs1.5 billion in the outstanding amount while 2.5 billion would be spent on the monthly treatment of the patients. The health department is required to pay Rs4 billion to the firm at 20th of every month.

“We haven’t paid Rs4 billion in March to the firm and a similar instalment is due to be paid today (April 20) but the caretaker government cannot pay the amount due to sever financial constraints. Therefore, the SLIC has stopped the programme from today (Thursday),” senior health officials told Dawn.

They said that a lengthy meeting was held with provincial chief secretary in the chair that was attended by officials of SLIC and secretaries of health and finance department to resolve the issue of outstanding dues and keep the programme afloat. “However, the indications show that there are no funds and as a result the programme will stay closed,” they added.

The programme, started in 2016 from covering three per cent population in four selected districts of the province, was extended to the entire population of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in a phase-wised manner. So far, 2.2 million patients have received free health services at a cost of Rs51 billion under the programme.

More than 9.78 million families registered for free treatment in the province could seek free investigation and treatment at the empanelled hospitals across the country.

A total of 1,100 hospitals across the country, including 193 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, are providing free treatment services to the residents of the province under the programme.

“The insurance firm is playing vital role in implementation of the programme as it has signed agreements with the hospitals for free treatment of people on SCP and pays to them at the end of every month,” they said.

The SLIC has been sending letters to the health department every month to ensure provision of money so that timely payment could be made to the empanelled hospitals but the financial problems have left the caretaker government with no option except allowing the corporation to stop the programme.

“A meeting in this regard will be held in the health department wherein this issue will be discussed in details. The SLIC can still continue services if the department agrees to ensure payment,” said senior health officials.

They said that as per notification, the hospitals would continue to facilitate the patients, who had already been admitted under the SCP, but new patients wouldn’t be accepted.

Meanwhile, health department has said that due to unavoidable circumstances, the services under Sehat Card Plus programme would remain suspended with effect from April 20, 2023. It said that inconvenience in that regard was highly regretted.

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2023