KPK Announces 13% Expansion in Sehat Insaf Card Plus Budget
by Iqra Zafar
SHARES
Peshawar: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Government ruling in KPK has announced healthcare budget expansion in the 2022-23 budget. This expansion is basically for the cashless health program's budget that is also known as Sehat Card Plus.
During the budget speech in the provincial assembly, Health and Finance Minister Taimur Khan Jhagra announced a 13% expansion in the cardless healthcare facility budget. In the coming year, the allocated budget for sehat insaf card plus has been increased 25 billion as compared to the last year where the amount was 22 billion.
Just like Sehat Insaf Card in Punjab, Sehat Card Plus was an initiative of Sehat Sahulat Program for the people of KPK. Sehat card plus is meant to provide free-of-cost treatment services for the unprivileged.
Several diseases were included in the treatment package offered by the cardless treatment package by the government. In the current budget speech, Taimur Khan Jhagra has announced the expansion of the budget as well as the inclusion of five more diseases that will be treatable on sehat card plus.
Pakhtunkhwa's Khuddar Budget 2022-23, in rapid fire mode.#خوددار_خیبرپختونخوا pic.twitter.com/xcXHQwoYlJ
— Taimur Khan Jhagra (@Jhagra) June 13, 2022
Liver transplant, thalassemia, bone marrow transplant, and advanced cancer treatment are added to the diseases treated under the sehat card plus. Using the sehat card plus, 80000 people have been treated free of cost using health cards since the program expansion in February 2021.
Government has already started renovating 700 basic health units (BHUs) and rural health centers (RHCs). The renovation budget is 820 million in total and the renovation of 500 healthcare centers has already been completed.
“For the first time in the province’s history, we have accorded financial autonomy to 1,000 BHUs and RHCs and Rs2 billion will be spent during the upcoming financial year to run 15 BHUs and RHCs under public-private partnership in two phases.” Jhagra said.
Rs. 1 billion have been allocated for improving the polio vaccination situation in Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan, he added. Further, Rs. 1.3 billion will be utilized to launch the maternal ambulance service in the province.
