PESHAWAR: About 700,000 patients have benefitted from free treatment initiative of provincial government with women outnumbering men since resumption of the programme in March this year, according to a report.

It said that public sector hospitals earned Rs12 billion and private Rs6 billion during that period and a total amount of Rs18 billion was spent on free treatment of 689,523 patients.

The income of public sector hospitals from the programme has increased because government has stopped private hospitals from carrying out seven medical procedures including caesarean delivery, tonsillectomy, cholecystectomy, appendectomy, cataract, angiography and septoplasty and submucosal resection (SMR) on Sehat Card Plus (SCP).

The restriction has enabled government hospitals to earn more from the programme.

Around 0.7m patients benefitted from the scheme since March

The decision had been taken in view of allegations that patients were subjected to surgeries like appendix, tonsillitis and gall stones in private hospitals unnecessarily under the programme.

The report said that of the total patients, 493,216 availed free medical services in public hospitals and 196,205 in private health facilities.

It said that overall 689,523 patients sought free treatment under the programme. They included 366,821 women and 322,701 men, costing Rs9.127 billion and Rs9.091 billion, respectively.

The public sector Peshawar Institute of Cardiology treated 15,546 patients and earned Rs1.618 billion, the highest amount earned through the scheme.

Lady Reading Hospital earned Rs1.518 billion by treating 42,511 patients, Hayatabad Medical Complex earned Rs1.216 billion by treating 31,932 patients, Institute of Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicine earned Rs838 million by treating 18,470 patients and Khyber Teaching Hospital got Rs699 million by treating 27,929 patients.

It said that Rs4.085 billion was spent on treatment of 29,657 cardiac patients, Rs1.750 billion on medical cases, Rs1.817 billion on general surgeries, Rs1.794 billion on 91,117 gynaecology patients, Rs1.086 billion on neurosurgery patients, Rs876 million on 31,595 orthopaedic patients, Rs604 million on 119,657 dialysis patients, Rs533 million on 1.652 cardiac surgery patients and Rs424 million on 1,341 paediatric cardiology patients.

Most patients sought medical services under SCP scheme in Peshawar as hospitals in provincial metropolis received 72,388 patients, costing Rs2.018 billion.

Swat-based hospitals received 58,333 patients and generated Rs1.588 billion and Charsadda hospitals got Rs1.093 billion from 42,051 patients. The rest of the empanelled hospitals in different districts also earned funds in millions.

The free treatment programme covers the entire population of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and each family is entitled to seek healthcare services worth Rs1 million annually. There are more than 1,000 empanelled hospitals including 130 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and remaining in other provinces where the people possessing the identity cards of KP can avail free treatment services.

The programme, launched in 2015 in four districts covering only the poorest families, was later extended to the whole population in a phase-wised manner. As a whole more than four million persons have benefitted from the programme, which cost Rs90 billion.

The government has allocated Rs34 million for the programme in the current financial year.

The programme was suspended by caretaker government last year, citing financial crunch but the PTI government resumed it in March this year and pledged to release Rs3 billion monthly to State Life Insurance Corporation, the executing agency of the programme, to run it on sustainable basis.

The scheme has not only benefitting patients but also doctors and support staff in hospitals as they draw share from the income generated from SCP patients.

Last week, health department completed an assessment exercise in which some of the empanelled hospitals were removed from the list while new ones were empanelled.

Since start of the programme, authorities concerned have been carrying out inspections to see if the designated hospitals provide quality services to people.

Health department wants to empanel hospitals in all districts to enable people to get services in their native areas as many patients travel to Peshawar hospitals and nearby districts for seeking free treatment under the scheme.

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2024