Govt to expand health card scope

CM approves surgical treatment through CyberKnife technology

LAHORE:

The Punjab government has decided to increase the number of hospitals on the panel of the Sehat Sahulat Health Insurance Scheme, besides including treatment with the latest robotic surgery technology, CyberKnife.

Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, on Monday, approved the proposal to increase the number of panel hospitals to make the government’s flagship health insurance scheme more effective. Presiding over a review meeting of the health insurance scheme, the chief minister also approved surgical treatment through the CyberKnife technology.

The CyberKnife is the only fully robotic radiotherapy system that uses stereotactic body radiation therapy (SRS SBRT), delivering precise doses of radiation with extreme accuracy — and accounting for a tumour or patient movement in real time. The system is used to treat tumours of the pancreas, liver, prostate, spine, cancer of the throat and brain and benign tumours.

Chief Minister Elahi instructed officials concerned to make the public welfare scheme hassle-free for citizens. He also directed them to cover the treatment of more diseases under the scheme.

He underscored that the provincial government was committed to making the health insurance scheme more effective as per the vision of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan.

The provision of the quality healthcare facility to the marginalised section of society is the foremost priority of the government, he said and highlighted that it had begun providing free medicine in emergency wards of all public sector hospitals across the province.

Punjab Minister for Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Dr Yasmin Rashid told the chief minister that over two million citizens had benefited from the health insurance scheme. She said Sehat Sahulat Card had been proved a game-changer. The best medical treatment is being provided to dengue and coronavirus patients in the government teaching hospitals.

The meeting was attended by the Principle Secretary to Chief Minister, Muhammad Khan Bhatti, the specialised healthcare secretary, Mohsin Ghurki from Ghurki Hospital and Dr Amir Aziz.

According to official statistics, more than 2.085 million citizens in Punjab have received free treatment through the health insurance card so far. They received free treatment facilities worth more than Rs36.55 billion.

Currently, 808 government and private hospitals have been enrolled to provide free medical treatment to the people of Punjab through the health card.

Official data shows that over 432,000 people in Punjab have so far got free dialysis through Sehat Sahulat Card. More than 45,000 people got the facility of free coronary angiography, more than 36,000 women have undergone normal delivery and more than 155,000 women free cesarean surgery. In addition, 29,000 people in Punjab have undergone free hernia surgery through the card, more than 27,000 people have received free chemotherapy and 155,000 underwent angioplasty through the card.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 13^th, 2022.