Sehat Sahulat Programme services continue: Spokesman

Quami Sehat (health) Card (commonly known ‘PTI health card) empaneled hospitals are providing uninterrupted and free-of-cost medical services and treatments across Pakistan.

According to spokesman of the Ministry of National Health Services, under the Sehat Sahulat Programme, families are able to get free treatment from empaneled public and private hospitals all across the country.

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He said that all hospitals empanelled with Sehat Sahulat Programme across Pakistan continue to provide free of cost hospitalization services to all citizens as per agreement.

With around 9,000 hospital admissions yesterday and around 8,000 today across Pakistan under the Programme, citizens are getting best medical cover, he added.

He said that any social media messages to the contrary are patently false, malicious, and baseless.
He advised the citizens that in case of any problem they should call toll free helpline 080009009 or approach the relevant hospital’s Sehat Card Counter for prompt assistance.

The Sehat  Sahulat Programme – commonly known as the health card scheme – is a flagship programme of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government which has brought great relief and sense of protection to millions of families, who hardly make ends meet.

The card provides free of cost medical treatment coverage of up to Rs1 million per family per year at government as well as selected private hospitals. The initiative is widely appreciated by all people. Even the political opponents and critics of Prime Minister Imran Khan could not resist admiring it.

Some analysts believe that the card is the only remarkable achievement of the ruling PTI in its three-and-a-half-year reign. Otherwise the PTI government at federal level as well as in the provinces of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Punjab have been plagued with failures and mismanagement.

Some political observers monitoring the electoral politics had attributed the PTI’s victory in the KP in the 2018 general election to the health card, introduced in the province by the party’s first provincial government between 2013 through 2018.

Interestingly, it was the first time in the province’s political history that an incumbent government returned to power for a second consecutive term.

In the 2013 general election, the PTI had won 48 seats and became the single largest party in the province. It had formed a coalition government with the support of the Jamaat-e-Islami, the Qaumi Watan Party and independent candidates.

But to the surprise of many, the PTI had returned victorious in the 2018 elections by winning 66 seats out of 99 seats on which election was held in the province. The party had formed its government, this time without the support of any other political party.

The performance of the PTI after the 2013 election had remained average except for the introduction of the Sehat Sahulat Programme which provided health coverage to almost all the 7.2 million families in the province. It was the health card which had paved the way for the PTI victory in 2018.

The people in the province had greatly benefited from the facility, especially the poor people who could not afford treatment of serious diseases like cancer.

Read more: Khurrum Sher Zaman labeled Sindh government as biggest hurdle in the launch of health card

A senior PTI leader who did not want to disclose his identity said even now the party could go into the 2023 general election on the strength of the health card scheme

He said he was otherwise worried by the sky-rocketing prices of essential commodities, joblessness and the government’s failure to deliver on its election promises.

According to the data available with the Bol News, the annual allocation for KP health card scheme is around Rs18 billion while the total allocation for the scheme – now also available in Punjab and federal areas – is Rs400 billion.