Health scheme in K-P

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government has unveiled a social health protection scheme that aims to lighten the burden of poor people who are unable to pay mountainous hospital bills. The five-year Rs1.39 billion programme, called Sehat Sahulat, was launched on December 15 by Chief Minister Pervez Khattak with the financial backing of the German government. The stated purpose of the initiative is to improve the health of the targeted population by increasing its access to quality health services. As it is a health insurance programme, the people benefiting from the initiative will not have to pay for medicines out of their own pockets. Under the scheme, the premium for a family would be Rs1,700 a year that will be paid to the insurance company by the K-P government, while each registered individual will get a coverage of up to Rs25,000 a year. Initially, only four districts — Mardan, Malakand, Chitral and Kohat — have been selected for the scheme, but the authorities intend to introduce it in other parts of K-P as well in a staggered fashion.

Although the initiative at this stage is on a modest scale, it signifies a step in the right direction. Given the crumbling state of our health infrastructure, even higher-income groups are sometimes left struggling to cope with their health needs. One can well imagine the agony of poorer households with a sick member to tend to, but little money to defray the treatment cost. Poverty is widespread in K-P where health schemes such as this one are urgently needed. It is heartening to note that the PTI government is trying to live up to its election promises to address people’s health and education needs. But the road is a long and arduous one. Given the enormity of the challenge in the health sector, K-P should be aiming to introduce programmes of a larger scale and outreach. This said, one must not begrudge the praise the initiative deserves. Other provincial governments will do well if they introduce similar schemes.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 19^th, 2015.

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