PESHAWAR: Heart patients in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa continue to consume most funds under the provincial government’s health insurance programme as 25 and 28pc of the Sehat Card Plus expenditure went to their care in the last and current financial years, respectively, reveals a health department report.

The report said the patients with cardiac and cardiovascular problems had consumed Rs4.77 billion (25pc) out of the total Rs18.87 billion funds spent in 2023-24. The amount spent on heart patients, including those who have undergone cardiovascular operations under the Sehat Card Plus in 2024-25, has risen to Rs5.69 billion (28pc), it said.

This year, the government has incurred Rs20 billion on the treatment of in-patients.

Last year, an expenditure of Rs2.07 billion was recorded for the treatment of cancer patients that is 11pc of the total programme cost, whereas the care for general medicine cases under the health insurance scheme in 2024-25 cost Rs1.92 billion, which is 10pc of the total expenses.

Cancer, general medicine cases also among major beneficiaries of health insurance programme

Women patients who availed themselves of services under the SCP consumed Rs2 billion and Rs1.9 billion in the previous and ongoing financial years, according to the report.

The money that went to the treatment of general surgery patients stood at Rs1.99 billion (11pc) and Rs1.9 billion (9pc) in 2023-24 and 20124-25, respectively.

The expenditure of medical cases was Rs1.54 (8pc), of neurosurgery Rs1.07 billion (6pc), urology Rs84 million (4pc), orthopedic Rs832 million (4pc), dialysis Rs833 million (4pc), ENT Rs473 million (3pc) and ophthalmology Rs259 million (1pc) in previous FY, according to the report.

It added that during the ongoing fiscal, Rs1.88 billion (9pc) had so far been incurred on the treatment of cancer patients, Rs1.09 billion (5pc) on neurosurgery ones, Rs963 million (5pc) on urology, Rs901 million (5pc) on orthopedic, Rs721 million (4pc) on dialysis, Rs361 million (2pc) on ENT and Rs245 million (1pc) on ophthalmology.

In both financial years, a total of 1,492,736 patients received treatment as admitted patients, on which a total of Rs38.877 billion was spent.

They included 796,626 (53pc) female patients and 696,104 (47pc) male. The government spent Rs19.75 billion (51pc) on women and Rs129.13 billion (49pc) respectively. In both year, six transgender persons underwent healthcare services at the cost of Rs0.001 million, the report said.

It added that in both years, public sector Hayatabad Medical Complex received Rs3.12 billion from SCP patients, Peshawar Institute of Cardiology Rs3.11 billion, Lady Reading Hospital Rs3.02 billion, Institute of Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicine Rs2.038 billion and Khyber Teaching Hospital generated Rs1.3 billion. The hospitals that got more income from the programme included nine public and five private hospitals.

Recently, the government increased the rates of the hospitals for cardiology and cardiovascular patients as the cardiologists had demanded enhanced fees due to the rise in cost of implants in the international market. The government after one year accepted their demand of an upswing in their rates as there was no rise since 2019.

The health officials said the programme had been benefitting most cardiac patients, whose treatment was highly expensive and couldn’t be afforded by most, forcing authorities to accept the cardiologists’ demand for enhanced fees, allowing patients to continue receiving services.

They added that due to lower fees, most cardiology patients had been complaining that they weren’t getting swift services as doctors delayed their treatment due to lower rates.

The officials, however, said heart patients had started receiving prompt services.

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2025