The State Life Insurance Corporation (SLIC) has restored free healthcare services on Sehat Card Plus after they were suspended for 24 hours due to the caretaker government’s failure to pay its dues.
After the payment of Rs2 billion to the insurance firm, the insurer instructed the impanelled hospitals to restart services immediately and begin hospitalization of patients under the Sehat Card Plus programme.
On Wednesday, the insurance company instructed all hospitals to immediately halt free health care under the initiative.
Prof Abid Jameel, the interim chief minister’s health adviser, said at a news conference that Rs2 billion had been paid to the insurance firm and that a comparable sum will be granted to it after Eidul Fitr.
“Due to the centre’s failure to pay Rs238 billion in dues to the provincial government, the province is facing difficulties, including the suspension of the Sehat Card Plus scheme.” The chief minister has been made aware of the situation. “Our government had no intention of repealing the free health insurance programme,” he stated.
The health card scheme was suspended over non-payment of dues to SLIC
He did, however, state that they intended to strengthen the scheme so that consumers could access great services.
Prof Abid, a former head of the oncology department at Hayatabad Medical Complex, stated that nowhere in the world does the entire population have access to free health care. There would be no financial concerns in the province if cashless healthcare services were only available to those who deserved them, he continued.
He stated that thus far, 66% of patients in private hospitals and 34% in public sector health facilities had received free care. Some private hospitals were not qualified for SCP accreditation, but the past administration included them in the initiative, he claimed.
Prof Abid stated that the caretaker government was exploring strong measures to increase transparency in SCP services. “A committee comprised of officials from the health department and the healthcare commission will be tasked with carrying out inspections of the empanelled hospitals and deciding on their eligibility,” he added.
Previously, previous provincial health minister Taimur Khan Jhagra lambasted the caretaker administration for discontinuing the scheme, claiming that the PTI government’s SCP was benefiting 120,000 people per month.
“There is no financial issue, but the government has not paid any instalment to the insurance company in the last two months, which has resulted in the program’s suspension,” he explained. He went on to say that the caretaker government distributed substandard wheat flour worth Rs20 billion to people without any legal authority, but it couldn’t give the company Rs4 billion to keep the programme running.
Mr. Jhagra stated that policy decisions should not be made by the caretakers. He threatened them with dire consequences if they continued to intervene in policy affairs.
SCP, he claimed, was legally protected. He stated that the province’s overall financial outlay was Rs1300 billion, with SCP’s annual cost being merely Rs30 billion.
“The caretakers, who should be neutral, are bent on taking the facilities away from the poor,” the former minister stated. He claimed that the PDM government stopped providing free health care in Punjab because Maryam Nawaz requested it from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
He claimed that the caretakers abandoned their constitutional obligation to hold free and fair elections and began meddling in things outside their purview.
