LAHORE: Former health minister and PTI leader Dr Yasmin Rashid says poor governance and lack of vision has resulted in chaos in the Punjab health sector.

In an open letter from Kot Lakhpat jail on Monday, Dr Rashid said there were reports of non-availability of medicines in all teaching hospitals as well as in major DHQ and THQ hospitals.

She said there was a Punjab-wide protests against the outsourcing of Rural Health Centres and Basic Health Units which would render medical staff jobless at a time when more than 40pc of the population had been pushed below the poverty line.

Dr Rashid, who is president of PTI Punjab chapter, said some 22 million families were registered under the Sehat Card programme in the province during the PTI government.

She stated the logic behind the health insurance card was universal health coverage – which meant that every citizen had the right to free health cover.

The former health minister said the PTI government had added 50,000 beds to the already existing healthcare system. She said this milestone was achieved by involving private hospitals, particularly those attached with private teaching hospitals.

She said patients received free treatment through Sehat Card, while the insurance company paid the bills according to government rates. “This resulted in reduction of over-crowding in public sector hospitals.”

Dr Rashid said the good part was that all the public sector hospitals were also included in the initiative . “When I left the health ministry, a sum of Rs10 billion had been earned by the teaching hospitals and the funds were going back to the government treasury. She stated that government entity – State Life Insurance Company – was engaged and the total cost stood at Rs130 billion a year. “The agreement signed with the SLIC had an additional clause – that money not spent out of Rs130 billion would come back to the government. It was a win-win situation, “ she claimed.

Dr Rashid said the Punjab chief minister should look at how the Sehat Card was being used in KP. “Since its inception in 2016 more than four million people have benefited from the card. Additionally more than 1,000 hospitals in other provinces are also engaged. The people with their CNICs can avail services in all these institutions free of cost,” she said.

This year, she said, the public sector hospitals had earned more revenue from the Sehat Card than the private sector and added that the total money spent was Rs102 billion in 2016.

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2025