PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has decided to establish an endowment fund with Rs1 billion seed money for free organ transplants and cochlear implants of the poor people in the province.

“A summary has been sent to the chief minister for approval. It will be placed before the cabinet afterward,” a health official told Dawn.

According to him, the finance department will manage the funds and a committee will grant approval to the deserving patients after confirmation that they belonged to poor families.

Data from the Benazir Income Support Programme will be used to determine the eligibility of patients for five kinds of transplants from the fund.

Summary sent to CM, to be laid before cabinet for consent, says official

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, all population is getting free healthcare services on the Sehat Card Plus health insurance scheme.

However, last year, the caretaker government stopped transplants citing financial constraints as the reason, according to officials.

They said the caretakers allowed free treatment for three emergency diseases only.

Officials said until now, 164 kidney and 64 liver transplants had been conducted on SCP, with many patients awaiting transplants since those surgeries were stopped last year.

They said liver transplant cost Rs5m and renal transplant Rs1.4, so they’re unaffordable for most patients.

“Last month, the chief minister directed the relevant authorities to make a proposal in this regard and last week a summary was sent to the CM Secretariat for approval,” an official said.

He said that the summary would get approval shortly, with the people likely to start receiving transplants within a month or two from the endowment fund.

“People will also get free bone marrow transplants and funds for other high-cost ailments which are not covered on SCP. The CM has ordered the establishment of an endowment fund after several patients requested free treatment,” he said.

Officials said that not only were transplants very expensive but the patients also required subsequent treatment whose cost will also be covered by the fund.

“All the residents of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are entitled to free healthcare services on SCP regardless of their financial status. So far, 3.6 million people have availed cashless services at the cost of about Rs88 billion but the endowment funds will be available only for most poor patients,” an official said.

Officials said that several patients having renal and liver diseases had arrived from abroad and underwent renal and liver transplants on SCP because they could not afford the high cost.

Under SCP, each family is eligible to use Rs1 million from SCP in lieu of treatment at the designated hospitals, and for liver and renal transplants, there was a reserved fund of Rs500 for which a committee approved the additional amount.

He, however, said there was no chance of restoration of transplants on SCP, so the endowment fund was being established exclusively for transplants.

The official said selection of hospitals for transplants will be made by the health department to ensure that the people get quality services.

He said most transplants done on SCP had been successful as they’re done in leading hospitals.

Officials said that the government was also in the process of establishing a bone marrow and liver transplant centre in the province in view of the patients requiring services.

They said presently, patients went to other provinces for liver and bone marrow transplants while renal transplants were done at the Institute of Kidney Diseases, Hayatabad Medical Complex.

The officials said most thalaessemia patients would also undergo bone marrow transplant from the fund.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2024