Sehat Sahulat Program relaunched
Federal Minister for National Health Syed Mustafa Kamal has announced the resumption of the Sehat Sahulat Health Facilitation Program after years of dormancy in the federal capital to provide quality care and free treatment for the people.
The Sehat Sahulat Program has been launched in 42 hospitals of the twin cities, where deserving patients will be provided with free treatment. The programme has been revived initially for two years and in the third year, efforts will be made to provide OPD services free of charge. He also met patients during his visit to Akbar Niazi Teaching Hospital.
Mustafa Kamal explained that real-time data of patients' treatment and expenses was being collected to ensure that the Sehat Sahulat Program was being implemented with fairness. He said that if any hospital was found to be violating the rules and regulations set under the programme or abetting corruption, it will be immediately delisted.
He said that the population of the federation has crossed 3.5 million, while a large number of patients coming to Islamabad hospitals from Azad Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, Rawalpindi and other neighbouring areas for treatment. He noted that the influx of patients from various cities was overwhelming available services in both public and private hospitals.
He further said that according to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO), 13 million people in Pakistan now live below the poverty line, while Rs2 billion have been expended on the treatment of patients in the last five months alone.
He also added that the total health budget of the federation and the provinces is Rs1,156 billion, but despite this, the patient satisfaction rate has remained below 10 per cent. He said that for these reasons and more, it had become necessary to lead an intervention in the health sector.
He added that a comprehensive study on universal health coverage found that basic health facilities can be provided under a budget of Rs210 billion, however, this would require 5,000 more hospitals across the country. He said that universal health coverage is a system of the future and most countries are already following this model.
During his announcement, Mustafa Kamal thanked Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and said that he accepted the government's proposal in the public interest, as a result of which the Sehat Sahulat Program is being reactivated after many years. He expressed his determination by vowing that the government will continue to take all possible steps for reforms, transparency and provision of quality medical facilities for the public.