PESHAWAR: In its latest publication, one of world’s most prestigious medical journal has hailed the Sehat Card scheme launched across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, calling the project as a ‘substantial achievement’.
The Lancet Regional Health – Southeast Asia, which is a new open access journal, part of the Lancet Group’s global initiative to advocate for health-care quality and access in all regions of the world, has said that the sort of achievements made by KP’s Sehat Card scheme were yet to be achieved by much wealthier countries in the world.
کیا آپ جانتے ہیں کہ اب خیبرپختونخوا میں قوت سماعت سے محروم بچو کا علاج مفت ہوگا؟
وزیر اعلیٰ محمود خان کا یہ قابل تعریف قدم ہے۔ کیونکہ کوکلیئر امپلانٹ کا ایک بچے کا خرچ 18 لاکھ ہے مگر اب خیبرپختونخوا حکومت کی بدولت مفت ہوگا۔ @IMMahmoodKhan@KPChiefMinister@Pakhtunkhwa360 pic.twitter.com/DqsBTHklQx— Mehwish Qamas Khan (@MehwishQamas) October 19, 2022
The Lancet wrote that despite some challenges with the SSP, Pakistan’s recent investments in healthcare coverage are laudable, especially when considering that much wealthier countries have not been able to achieve this sort of coverage for their populations.
It said “we also must recognize that this program emerged in a region where there was little prior experience with health insurance, and thus the exponential expansion in KPK from a small pilot project to a program implemented at the entire provincial level is a substantial achievement.”
It said that the health program reflected a changing environment in which political figures recognize the importance of health for financial prosperity and social wellbeing at both the individual and the population levels.
“We believe that this social protection program is important not just for poverty reduction, but also for pushing towards poverty prevention by reducing the incidence of CHE. However, there is more work to be done and considerations to be made regarding what is covered, who gets these services and how they can access them under a government-sponsored scheme like this,” wrote The Lancet.
It is likely that more health gains are possible if additional funding is invested into preventive measures and outpatient care, if the program is actively monitored and adjusted based on impact evaluation results, and if there is particular concern paid to equity issues to ensure that no one is left behind, The Lancet concluded.
