PESHAWAR: Health department has planned to empanel more hospitals for provision of free treatment to patients on Sehat Card Plus after getting licences from Health Care Commission (HCC), according to officials.
They said that the decision was meant to ensure selection of best hospitals for treatment of Sehat Card Plus (SCP) patients in the province. They said that the decision was taken after complaints were received that some hospitals did not have the desired facilities due to which patients undergoing treatment there might suffer.
“There are total 158 empanelled hospitals in the province. These include 71 public and 87 private hospitals, selected through proper assessment. All are registered with HCC but the new strategy will further improve free treatment services in the province,” they said.
Officials said that the process of empanelment continued throughout the year and many hospitals were removed from the panel even after slightest complaints while others received warnings to overcome their weaknesses.
Officials say licence of HCC required for empanelment
“It is the responsibility of hospitals and diagnostic centres to get licence from HCC. “So far, HCC has conducted more than 330 assessments and has issued licences to 87 health facilities across the province,” they said.
HCC has registered 20,391 healthcare establishments in public and private sectors across the province. These include 1,162 hospitals, 2,847 homeopathic clinics, 569 Tibb clinics, 5,188 general medical practitioners, 2,487 specialist clinics, 1,566 dentistry clinics, 485 radiology centres and 2,887 clinical laboratories.
The department has been spending an amount of Rs35 billion per year on the free treatment programme.
Each of the 11 million families in the province is entitled to free medical treatment worth Rs1 million per year under the programme.
Additionally, the programme also offers free transplant services to residents of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. So far, 2,35 patients have undergone free renal transplants, 80 liver and 71 cochlear transplant, costing Rs1.9 million, Rs6.2 million and Rs2.3 million per case, respectively, to provincial government.
Officials in health department said that so far about 4.8 million patients had received free treatment services under the programme, costing Rs115 billion to the government since 2016.
They said that the government was spending huge amount on the treatment of patients under SCP and wanted to streamline selection of hospitals so that people could get quality services. The social health protection initiative, which runs SCP, also provides services to residents of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in other provinces but they are required to present their national identity cards.
Officials believe that hospitals have started to get licences from HCC as they want to get selected for SCP.
The process of registration is easy as healthcare establishments get it when they apply but getting licence is not that easy because HCC has to carry out full assessment of buildings, beds, operation theatres, blood banks, pharmacy, sterilisation, qualification of staff including doctors, nurses and technicians.
They said that health department had also initiated a process to strengthen HCC and licensing rules would be presented to cabinet for approval after endorsement by law department soon. They said that amendments to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Care Commission Act, 2015, were also approved by law department that would be presented to provincial assembly for approval after approval by chief minister. The summary has been sent to chief minister for placement before cabinet and consequent enactment.
“Health department wants to strengthen HCC not only to improve selection of hospitals for SCP but also to effectively check operations of overall healthcare facilities in the province,” said officials.
Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2025
