Balochistan to introduce Health Card

The provincial government has decided to launch the Balochistan Health Card in the province under which health insurance of Rs1 million will be provided to each resident family of the province.

The Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) will be considered the health card for the permanent residents of the province.

A significant proportion of the population of Pakistan and particularly in Balochistan lives below the poverty line, and this segment of the population is exposed to a number of risks. Of all the risks, health risks pose the greatest threat to their lives and livelihoods. A health emergency adds health expenditures to the burden of the poor precisely at the time when they can least afford it.

Talking to The Express Tribune Secretary Specialized Healthcare and Medical Education, Noor ul Haq Baloch said that the objective of the program is to improve the health status of the targeted population through increasing access to quality health services and to reduce poverty through reduction of out-of-pocket payments for health expenditures. Therefore, a universal health coverage program under the name of Balochistan Health Card is needed to be launched as practiced in Islamabad and other provinces. The scheme needs to be funded by the provincial government through its regular budget.

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He said currently around 1.8 million families are settled in Balochistan and there will be 100 per cent coverage under the scheme. The beneficiaries of the program would avail free health insurance of up to one million rupees per family per year.

He said more than five to six hundred hospitals in all over Pakistan will be on the panel and indoor patient will be entertained by their CNIC used as a Health card. It will be very helpful for them.

Baloch said healthcare services to the beneficiaries will be provided by the public and private hospitals. The insurance company will carry out assessment of the available public and private health care facilities in each district on a basic criteria for assessment of hospitals. Based on these criteria, a short-list of hospitals would be produced.

All public hospitals fulfilling the basic criterion would be empaneled, whereas among the private hospitals on the short-list, further assessment would be conducted on a detailed assessment criterion and a final list of hospitals would be produced, keeping in view the number of tehsils in the district concerned and the total number of enrolled beneficiary families therein.

This final list of hospitals will then be recommended for empanelment to the steering committee for approval. Detailed criterion for assessment of hospitals would be provided by the Health Department.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 11^th, 2021.