Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa launches Ilaj Sahulat Plan

Plan will pilot in four districts of Kohat, Malakand, Mardan and Chitral

PESHAWAR: The provincial government has decided to launch a new health facilitation scheme, the “Ilaj Sahulat Plan” (Treatment Facilitation Plan) as a pilot in four districts of the province. The programme is being launched despite the fact that the government already has a province-wide health insurance scheme called the ‘Sehat Insaf Programme’.

The new plan, to be launched by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government in association with the National Rural Support Programme (NRSP) and an insurance company, was announced by the Adviser to K-P Chief Minister on Education Ziaullah Bangash an inaugural ceremony for the plan in Kohat on Sunday.

During the ceremony, Bangash noted that the provincial government has issued the Sehat Insaf Cards to residents in different parts of the province, adding that in a few weeks they will be handing the card to 800,000 needy people.

“The Sehat Insaf Card programme will remain intact while we are launching the ‘Ilaj Sahulat Plan’ to facilitate K-P’s citizens in four districts and provide them with the best health care services,” Bangash said.

The four districts, Bangash said, include Kohat, Malakand, Mardan and Chitral. He added that the government had already inked an agreement with the NRSP and the State Life insurance company — the same company that the K-P government had worked with to launch the Sehat Insaf Cards. Should the programme prove successful, it would be extended to the rest of the province.

“Under this plan, a family will have to pay [a premium of] just Rs2,550 a year, and they would be provided with health services worth up-to Rs30,000 at hospitals across K-P while they can also avail the ambulances up-to Rs1,000,” the adviser said.

K-P government has banked on data from the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) to select the recipients for the new plan, despite that fact that the public had complained that the data was flawed and the most needy were deprived when the Sehat Insaf Cards were handed out.

Bangash said that to fix that, they have included Ulema and notables of the area in the government plan so that the deserving people can be included. He also cleared the confusion that the Sehat Insaf Card was only for the destitute to seek treatment under the programme while the Ilaj Sahulat Plan would be for all. He urged doctors to cooperate with those patients who carry either the Seht Insaf Card or the Ilaj Sahulat Plan cards.

Bangash also advised the public to be vigilant against frauds in the health programmes.

The K-P government had launched its flagship Sehat Insaf Cards in August 2016 and the programme was to cost the government Rs5.2 billion over two years, covering some 1.8 million families. The card works at 102 designated health facilities across the province, including public and private hospitals.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 17^th, 2018.