KP To Get Free Medical Services In October

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has decided to provide free medical treatment to all residents of the province by extending Sehat Sahulat Programme to the entire province in a phase-wised manner from October.

The government had planned to extend the programme from July 1, 2020, but owing to non-appointment of State Life Insurance Corporation (SLIC) chairman the extension plan was delayed. But now that a new chairman is appointed, the government is likely to sign the agreement on Aug 13, reported a news outlet.

All the 6.617 million residents of Swat, Buner, Dir Upper, Dir Lower, Shangla, Malakand, Chitral Lower, Chitral Upper and Bajaur districts of Malakand division will start receiving free health services regardless of their financial status from October, a report claimed.

After the aforementioned districts, the programme will be extended to Mardan in November and Peshawar in December and Kohat, Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan in January.Each family would get free treatment up to Rs1 million per year at both the public and private hospitals designated by Sehat Sahulat Programme. The State Life, which has been selected after a competitive bidding process, will be paid Rs2,849 per family annually.

The project was initially started in 2015. At the time, it covered three per cent of the population (100,000 families in four districts) of the province.

The programme 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).