PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has said that his government is considering a plan to extend free outpatient department (OPD) services to the employees of public sector departments in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under the Sehat Sahulat Programme (SSP).

“Free liver transplant will be included in the flagship programme in the upcoming budget and inclusion of OPD services for the government employees is also being considered,” he said.

He termed the social health protection scheme of the provincial government as a flagship scheme at the national level and directed the high-ups of health and information departments to devise an effective communication strategy using all means of mass communication with special focus on social media platforms to benefit more people.

“We should give maximum information and awareness to the masses at the grassroots level so that they know about the free treatment facilities covered in the scheme and the names and addresses of the empanelled hospitals where they can avail of the free treatment facilities,” the chief minister said while chairing a meeting on Saturday.

Besides provincial cabinet members Taimur Saleem Jhagra, Akbar Ayub and Kamran Bangash, the meeting was also attended by the high-ups of the information and health departments.

Mahmood Khan said that SSP was a public-friendly initiative of the provincial government under which free treatment facilities were being provided to 100 per cent population of the province. He said that the provincial government was planning to include the free treatment of more diseases under the scheme to make it a comprehensive package of social health protection.

The chief minister said that keeping in view the importance and benefits of the scheme it was needed that the masses should be given its full details. He directed the concerned authorities that communication campaigns for the purpose should be designed in all local dialects of the province keeping in view the requirements of the target audience for maximum impact of the programme.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2021