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Having to choose between enrolling one\u2019s child in school or paying for the successive chemotherapy sessions of an ailing parent is an undeniably poignant situation for any household however, the nightmarish imagining might soon become a familiar reality for many destitute families across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) in the coming year, who in the absence of the Sehat Card Plus\u2019 (SCP) facilities will have to forego either their wealth or their loved ones.<\/p>\n
The Sehat Card Plus, a micro-health insurance program was one of the flagship initiatives of the Government of K-P, offering free of cost treatment to all citizens through an insurance company selected via national competitive bidding. Under the program, more than 7.2 million families in the province were receiving free in-patient healthcare services worth Rs1 million per year, for a variety of conditions including life-limiting diseases like cancer.<\/p>\n
In 2023 however, following the dissolution of the 11th K-P Assembly and the formation of the interim government, the Sehat Card Plus program was unceremoniously halted, leaving many unfortunate patients and their families in an unanticipated quandary.<\/p>\n
For instance, Khalid Khan, a local from Peshawar, was regularly receiving free of cost chemotherapy medications worth Rs50,000 for his mother under the coverage of the Sehat Card Plus program. \u201cThis program was nothing short of a miracle for low-income patients. Recently, however, the interim government stopped the welfare program and most hospitals are no longer accepting patients,\u201d revealed Khan, who felt that the shortage of funds was used as an excuse by the interim government to abdicate from its duties towards the common people.<\/p>\n