ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has congratulated the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) for providing free healthcare coverage to people of the province.
In a tweet on Monday, Imran said about 40 million people will receive free healthcare worth Rs1 million every year in more than 400 public and private hospitals across the province under the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s flagship Sehat Sahulat Programme introduced in August last.
Congratulations to KP govt for making KP first province in Pak with Universal Health Coverage for all KP-domiciled citizens. 40,000,000 residents covered with free health insurance. Free treatment upto Rs1,000,000 per family per year in over 400 govt/private hospitals across Pak.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) February 1, 2021
He noted KP was the first province in the country to provide universal health coverage for its residents.
In addition, State Life Insurance Corporation (STIC), which has been selected after a competitive bidding process, will be paid Rs2,849 per family annually.
The first phase of the project was launched in 2015, covering three per cent of the population (100,000 families in four districts) of the province.
It was extended to 51 per cent of the population (1,791,930 people in all districts) in the second phase in 2016. The third phase of the programme was started in 2017, covering 64 per cent of the population (3,200,000 families).
So far, the government has spent more than Rs10 billion on free treatment of 250,000 people.
RS18 BILLION ALLOCATED FOR PROGRAMME:
Seperately, KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, while addressing a gathering in Dera Ismail Khan, said when he had pitched the idea of providing free healthcare to the entire province to Prime Minister Imran, the latter had supported him and hoped other provinces will also follow suit.
Khan noted that a similar programme was being introduced in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJ&K) and the prime minister had given the Punjab government a deadline as well.
“Today, big provinces are following a small province. I feel that credit [for this] goes to all of us, to myself, to the [KP] cabinet ministers and to you, the people of the province,” he said.
He said that a budget of Rs18 billion will be allocated to the programme. Khan recalled the prime minister had also announced a package of Rs600,000 per family for the people of erstwhile Fata which will be raised to Rs1 million in the next budget.
He urged the people who are not registered with the National Database & Registration Authority (Nadra) to do so in order to avail free healthcare.
The chief minister further said he has directed provincial Health Minister Taimur Khan Jhagra to include snake bite and dog bite injections to the healthcare package as well since they are expensive.
