Health Or Wealth? : Unaffordable Healthcare To Crush Patients Next Year

Peshawar:

Choosing between enrolling a child in school or paying for a chemotherapy session for an ailing parent is undoubtedly a heart-wrenching situation for any family. However, this nightmare may soon become a reality for many poor families in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). Those who will have to give up their assets or their loved ones next year due to the lack of Health Card Plus (SCP) benefits.

Sehat Card Plus, a micro health insurance program, is one of the main initiatives of the South Korean government, which provides free health care to all citizens through insurance companies selected through a national public tender. Through this programme, more than 7.2 million families in the province receive free hospital care worth Rs 1 million every year for various ailments, including life-limiting ones like cancer.

However, in 2023, after the dissolution of the 11th KP Legislative Assembly and the formation of a caretaker government, the Health Card Plus program was simply discontinued, leaving many unfortunate patients and their families in an unexpected dilemma.

For example, Khalid Khan, a resident of Peshawar, regularly receives free chemotherapy drugs worth Rs 50,000 for his mother through the Kartu Sebat Plus programme. "This program is truly a miracle for low-income patients. However, the interim government has recently stopped welfare programs and most hospitals are no longer accepting patients,” said Khan, who believes the cash crisis has been used by the interim government as an excuse to abandon its responsibilities to the common man.

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Khan's dissent was also echoed by social activist Dawood Khan, who opined that 2023 is not a good year for the people of KP in terms of healthcare as the caretaker government has taken several steps, including the suspension of the Sehat Plus card, which may increase dissent in to the people.

"Apart from ending free hospital treatment, the interim government has also stopped many other schemes, including the Insulin for Life programme, the free cancer program and the HIV programme, thereby limiting the supply and availability of medicines." reduce the serious problems faced. "Apart from this, the government is also scrutinizing National Medical and Dental Colleges Entrance Test (MDCAT) candidates for inadequate supervision who used Bluetooth devices during the exam," said Dowd. Replace with Medical Training Institutes (MTIs) and similar.

This was stated by KP Health Minister Mehmood Aslam in a conversation with The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, ^January 1, 2024.

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