PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday directed the federal finance and cabinet secretaries to respond to a petition against the suspension of funding for free treatment of the residents of tribal districts under the Sehat Card Plus programme as well as the non-provision of the three per cent due share in the National Finance Commission Award for the region previously called Fata.

A bench consisting of Justice Roohul Amin Khan and Justice Fazal Subhan also issued a notice to the attorney general for Pakistan for response on next hearing to the plea of PTI MPA Mohammad Shafiq Afridi that the court declare the people of tribal districts are entitled to their due NFC Award share, which is three per cent of the federal divisible pool.

The petitioner, who belongs to Khyber tribal district, prayed the court to declare the act of the federal government to stop ex-Fata health funding ‘illegal and rooted in malice’ and order its immediate release.

He also sought the court’s orders for the centre to issue the due funds to the provincial government for the development of tribal districts.

PTI lawmaker also challenged denial of NFC Award share to tribal districts

During hearing, the bench observed that after the Fata’s merger with KP, the tribal region had only got representation in the provincial assembly but no funds and assets had been handed over to it.

The petitioner’s lawyer, Ali Gohar Durrani, said the provincial government had initiated its flagship Sehat Card Universal Health Care Card programme for its citizens.

He said under the programme, more than 7.2 million families of KP were getting free in-patient health services.

The lawyer said initially, the facility was launched in some parts of the province but later, it was extended to the entire province, where people were able to get healthcare free of charge at private and public sector hospitals.

He said the previous government at the centre had initiated a scheme like the Sehat Card for the people of tribal districts, but the two programs were run without harmony.

The lawyer said for the ‘harmonisation’ of the two health schemes, the provincial finance minister had written a letter to the federal finance minister on Oct 10, 2021, for the transfer of the Sehat Card programme funds for tribal districts.

He added that the national health services ministry moved a summary to the then prime minister for harmonising the Sehat Card packages and it was approved on Feb 21, 2022, and formally communicated to the chief executive officer of the Social Health Protection Initiative of the health department on Feb 23, 2022.

Referring to several written communications among the KP government, NHS ministry and finance division, he said no action was taken by the federal government to ensure continuity of services to residents of tribal districts.

The lawyer said as an interim arrangement, the provincial government had agreed to ensure continuity of the Sehat Card facility to the people of those districts.

He said the share of ex-Fata as per the NFC Award, which came to three per cent and had to be contributed by the three provinces (other than Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and the federation had not yet materialised.

Mr Durrani said the provincial assembly had also adopted a resolution asking the federal government to grant three per cent of the federal divisible pool for the development of tribal districts.

The respondents in the petition are the federal government through the secretary of the Cabinet Division, Finance Division through its secretary, the national health services ministry through its secretary, planning and development ministry through its secretary, Council of Common Interest and National Economic Council through their respective secretaries, and the provincial chief, health and finance secretaries.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2022