Govt to make all efforts to provide best health facilities to poor: minister

ISLAMABAD: Federal Health Minister Aamir Mehmood Kiani on Saturday vowed to make all efforts to provide the best health facilities to the poor segment as envisioned by Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Presiding over bid opening ceremony for provision of ‘Sehat cards’  Aamir Mehmood Kiani said that as per desire of PM Imran Khan, they have completed an important step to expand the ambit of social health protection initiative (Sehat Cards) to poor families across Pakistan.

According to a statement released from the minister, the health minister said that financial bids of insurance companies were opened in the presence of media for provision of health cards to 14 million families across Pakistan.

He maintained that through these health cards families, living below poverty line of US $2 per day, will be provided with financial protection against extraordinary health care expenditure.

“This sehat card provides its enrolled poor beneficiary access to quality indoor health care services, worth Rs720,000, free of cost and with dignity from public and private empaneled hospitals of their choice across Pakistan, he added.

Wide range of both medical and surgical indoor services are included in this scheme including hearth surgeries, stunts, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, dialysis, maternity and other medical and surgical services, reads the statement.

For the purpose Ministry of NHSRC initiated its procurement process through which an insurance company was to be hired and contracted out for the implementation of the health cards scheme for next 3 years.

Technical bids of the interested and shortlisted insurance companies were reviewed by a specially notified high powered evaluation committee on 6th and 7th December 2018 while the submitted financial bids were opened publically and in front of national wide media and procurement results announced on 8th December 2018.