PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has directed the national health services ministry to respond to a petition, which challenged the suspension of the federal government’s funding for free treatment of the residents of tribal districts under the Sehat Card Plus programme.

A bench consisting of Justice Musarrat Hilali and Justice Shakeel Ahmad issued the directions during a hearing into the petition of former PTI MPA Mohammad Shafiq Afridi against the halt to ex-Fata health funding as well as against the denial of three per cent due share in the National Finance Commission Award to the tribal region previously called Fata.

The petitioner, who belongs to Khyber tribal district, requested the court to declare that the people of ex-Fata are entitled to the NFC Award share, which is three per cent of the federal divisible pool.

He also sought the court’s orders to declare the act of the federal government to stop ex-Fata health funding ‘illegal and rooted in malice’ and order its immediate release.

The petitioner requested the court to ask the centre to issue the due funds to the province for the development of tribal districts.

Former MNA has also challenged denial of NFC Award share to tribal districts

The bench directed the relevant high court office to club the petition with two identical ones, which sought the court’s orders to declare illegal and unconstitutional first the non-issuance of the fresh NFC Award after the Fata-KP merger and second the formation of a steering committee by the federal government to oversee its development funds for the tribal region.

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

He added that 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.

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, the Finance Division through its secretary, the national health services ministry through its secretary, the planning and development ministry through its secretary, the Council of Common Interest and National Economic Council through their respective secretaries, and the provincial chief, health and finance secretaries.

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2023