Sehat Sahulat Card program scale being enhanced: Yasmin Rashid.

LAHORE -- Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid Friday said the scale and scope of Sehat Sahulat Card program was being enhanced to include Health Insurance for every household in Sahiwal and Dera Ghazi Khan divisions within the current fiscal year.

She was chairing a meeting of Punjab Health Initiatives Management Company (PHIMC) here at the Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department (P and SHD). She said the two divisions were selected for this phase due to large rural population and socio-economic inequalities.

"The step would be a milestone in achieving the target of universal health coverage (UHC) in the province", Health Minister said, adding that "the province is formally moving to the next phase in which UHC would be provided to all families in Punjab".

The minister said that in Dera Ghazi Khan division, people of Rajanpur, DG Khan District, Muzaffargarh and Layyah would be covered, whereas in Sahiwal division, Sahiwal district, Pakpattan and Okara would be covered.

"We are eying December 2021 as the deadline for expansion of Health Insurance Coverage services to all the divisions of the province," She said.

The minister said the target of covering all 22 million families across the province was set by the government.

"In the first phase, Sehat Sahulat Program covered people below poverty line in all 36 districts of Punjab, and we are gradually expanding the services to include all families of the province, " she said.

Dr Yasmin Rashid said the government was trying to provide good services to the card holders in public and private sector hospitals.

She said that for success of Sehat Sahulat Program around 6000 beds were added in the provincial capital. She...