Healthcare, popular politics and bitter realities

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister, Ali Amin Khan Gandapur, has decided to restore free health care services under the Sehat Card Plus initiative, from 1st Ramadan, for the cent percent population of the province. According to the details, the KP government has released Rs. 5 billion to State Life Insurance to resume its operation while an equal amount would be disbursed every month for the payment of arrears to state Life. The Chief Minister has termed public welfare as an important priority area of his government and said that Sehat Card Plus was a project of public importance that would be continued at all costs.

The Sehat Card Plus Scheme was the magnificent pro-poor initiative of the PTI government that was initially launched in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in late 2020. It was a government-sponsored micro health insurance program under the Prime Minister’s Sehat Insaaf initiative that was later expanded to other provinces then ruled by the PTI and its coalition partners except Sindh which was governed by PPP at that time. The PTI government funded several hundred billion rupees while enabling poor patients to get free-of-cost treatment for major diseases including heart surgery, blood dialysis, radiotherapies, and other serious ailments including cancer. Each adult citizen or household was authorized to expand one million rupees on indoor treatment from designated hospitals in a fiscal year. Historically, millions of people benefited from that magnificent project for almost two years until the State Life Insurance Company stopped its operation due to the nonpayment of dues by the treasury in April last year. Interestingly, the caretaker Chief Minister KP late Muhammad Azam Khan held several meetings with concerned authorities and high ups in the State Life Insurance to resume the provision of free of cost healthcare to the poor masses in the province but finally abandoned that endeavors considering the bulk of money involve and huge amounts pending payment on behalf of the previous PTI government in the province. The newly throne government agreed with the insurer to payback government dues through 5 billion rupees in monthly installments together with the same amount on account of fresh contract.

Historically, the Frontier Post categorically mentioned on these pages that the provision of the cent percent free of cost healthcare facility is surely unmanageable for any government and the PTI leadership must devise a mechanism by issuing a health card of affordable worth for each household to collect funds to make this magnificent initiative sustainable for the government as well as the public. The newly formed PTI Government has rediscovered its previous legacy but it is unsure how long the system will sustain and how much the country would pay for such governance of its leaders.