AFTER the launch of the Sehat Sahulat Programme last November in KP, and its extension in February enabling free medical treatment for all 6.7m families in the province, the PTI administration in Punjab has formally introduced the service in Sahiwal and Dera Ghazi Khan divisions. At a ceremony for the launch of these cards on Wednesday, the prime minister said that the health insurance scheme would meet the needs of the poor. Residents can avail free medical treatment of up to Rs720,000 at all public and private hospitals in the province, with the possibility of families obtaining additional treatment worth Rs300,000 if required. This is a game-changing initiative by the PTI government and the response so far in KP has been positive. Hospitals, both public and private, are reporting a larger inflow of patients who want to avail the facility of free medical treatment. There is a small difference though — in KP, families can avail treatment of up to Rs1m every year, more than in Punjab. While the discrepancy in the amounts should be explained, one hopes that the facility will soon be expanded to cover the entire province, and that the Sindh and Balochistan governments follow suit for the benefit of their populations who have had little access to proper healthcare, for lack of either facilities or money.

For decades, hundreds of thousands of men, women and children in the country have ended up either losing their life or their health only because they have not been able to access the required medical treatment. While one must laud the PTI’s initiative to lessen the financial burden on the general population, going forward, the authorities must also invest in equipping and improving existing facilities, especially in areas detached from large cities, so that the maximum number of patients can be catered to without overstraining the system. In this regard, the Punjab government’s decision to upgrade basic health units in underdeveloped areas and build a maternity hospital are steps in the right direction.

Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2021