Advanced healthcare, once considered to be a privilege of the affluent only, Health Card Punjab is now becoming common for all segments of society through pro-public and innovative health initiatives of the present government.
(Also Check – Bill Gates lauds Pakistan’s success against Covid-19 )
With successful experience in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the government has decided to make it a nation-wide project, extending it to different cities of the Punjab province.
After covering four divisions of the Punjab during first phase, the program has now been expanded to central Punjab. Prime Minister Imran Khan had recently distributed health cards among the people at Faisalabad to facilitate approximately 14.179 million persons at 2.21 million households in the division as the government desires that every resident of Punjab gets Health Card by end of March this year.
“Around 110 million people in 36 districts of the Punjab will be provided health card by the end of March this year,” said Punjab Minister for Specialized Healthcare and Medical Education, Dr Yasmeen Rashid.
“Health Card is one of our flagship programs and we are also planning to introduce outdoor services through this initiative as majority of people have expressed satisfaction with its’ services,” the minister remarked.
She informed that poor people in rural and urban areas would benefit more from this facility and get treatment at hospitals of their choice amongst the provided list of health facilities.
“Thousands deserving citizens have so far availed medical treatment through this facility as the dream of Prime Minister Imran Khan for providing best health facilities to people was coming true,” the minister said.
The second phase of providing health cards was initiated by the Prime Minister from Faisalabad a few days back where around 14 million people of over 2.5 million households would benefit from this facility.
“There are 7.875 million people in Faisalabad district, 2.744 million in Jhang, 2.19 million in Toba Tek Singh and 1.37 million people in Chiniot district. Similarly, 1.225 million households are in Faisalabad, 0.428 million in Jhang, 0.338 million in Toba Tek Singh and 0.221 million households in Chiniot district,” said a spokesman of the local administration in Faisalabad.
“Having a look on figure of other districts in Faisalabad division, this program would benefit 427,513 families in district Jhang, 338,469 families in district Toba Tek Singh and 218,607 families in Chiniot district,” the spokesman said.
Sehat Card would cover large spectrum of diseases from simple to complicated ones, facilitating every individual across the division especially the poor, to avail health facility at hospitals of their choice. Initially major surgeries were included in the scheme but now surgeries of other complicated diseases have also been covered in this scheme.
In the past successive governments had exploited this basic need for political mileage. But, the present government bore the torch to provide health cover to every individual and it would benefit large number of people at four districts of Faisalabad division.
“This program will cover every family to get free treatment up to Rs.one million at the hospitals of their own choice,” said Chairman National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs Faiz Ullah Kamoka.
Kamoka who also hails from Faisalabad has informed that its successful operation in KPK had inspired other provinces as well. “Prime Minister Imran Khan is himself taking keen interest in this scheme as it has been widely appreciated by the masses.”
“Its’ module is very innovative as the government will directly pay the health charges to the concerned hospital instead of paying amount to the concerned family,” Kamoka said.
Besides ailing poor, this initiative has also been appreciated by health experts in the public and private sector.
“This is an appreciable initiative as it will benefit more to lower middle class that is badly affected by Covid pandemic,” said Chief Executive Officer (CEO) District Health Authority Dr Bilal Ahmad. “Since many of the poor fall short of getting proper treatment for their diseases, Health Card would enable them to avail healthcare at hospitals of their choice,” Dr Bilal said.
The government has inducted a number of hospitals under this scheme in areas where the cards have been issued providing multiple choices to card holders for treatment.
“Initiation of Health Cards in Punjab is another step of the PTI government towards fulfillment of the promises made to people in its manifesto,” said Member Provincial Assembly (MPA) Chaudhary Lateef Nazar.
“This scheme would provide best possible health facilities to people besides incentivizing investors to setup quality hospitals,” he said.
Meanwhile, the card holders have also appreciated this initiative as with this facility their decades old dream of quality healthcare was coming true.
“I belong to a poor family and was worried about treatment after suffering from bone fracture in left leg,” said Muhammad Asghar, a resident of Okara district. “But, luckily I was awarded Sehat Card during first phase in Punjab. This facility enabled me to get free treatment from qualified orthopedic surgeons, thanks God,” Asghar said.
Riffat Bibi wife of Allah Rakha, hailing from Sangla Hill also praised the government for this initiative. “When the Prime Minister launched health scheme, I immediately got health card that helped me to get free treatment for my sick son Muhammad Yousuf.”
Afsheen Gohar believes in the power of clear, straightforward writing. Her blog posts tackle everyday topics with relatable insights and easy-to-follow advice. With a conversational style, she makes complex subjects feel understandable. She’s dedicated to sharing knowledge and empowering readers to take action. Find her latest posts on trending in social.
