The federal government, the Punjab government and the State Life Insurance Corporation (SLIC) on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to implement universal health coverage of the Sehat Sahulat Program in Islamabad and the Punjab province.
Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday witnessed the signing ceremony. Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Faisal Sultan, and other senior officials also attended the occasion.
National Health Services Secretary Aamir Ashraf Khwaja, CEO Punjab Health Initiatives Management Company Ali Razaq and chairman of the State Life Insurance Shoaib Javed Hussain signed the memorandum of understanding.
Imran Khan had announced Sehat Sahulat Program for all residents of Punjab during his visit to Lahore earlier this month. As part of the program, the residents of Punjab and Islamabad will get annual health insurance of up to one million rupees. The health card holder families will get free-of-cost health insurance covering indoor services from impanelled hospitals, according to the statement.
The services include
- Open-heart surgeries
- Insertion of stents
- Management of cancer
- Neurosurgical procures
- Burn management
- Accident management
- Dialysis
- Intensive care management
- Childbirth
- Kidney transplants
The card also offers the facility of inter-provincial and inter-district portability to avail free healthcare services from hospitals on panel.
The Sehat Sahulat Program and Qaumi Sehat Card will be issued phase-wise to all permanent residents of Islamabad, Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan. The issuance of cards begins on Dec. 31.
The healthcare initiative is fully funded by the federal government and has already covered all permanent residents of merged districts in KPK, Tharparkar in Sindh, and AJK. The program also covers people with permanent disabilities and the transgender community.
The SAPM hoped the Sindh and Balochistan governments would also join the insurance program soon to materialize the dream of providing Qaumi Sehat Cards to every single citizen of Pakistan.
“Sehat Sahulat is the flagship program of the government as per the vision and directives of Prime Minister Imran Khan, through which support and assistance are provided against catastrophic healthcare expenditure. This scheme will bring robust improvement in treatment and access to quality healthcare services to population and will bring about a revolution in the health sector,” Dr Sultan added.
