Peshawar – Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur has termed the health sector as one of his government’s key priorities. He stated that efforts are underway to strengthen healthcare facilities at the grassroots level by ensuring the efficient and effective use of available medical equipment and human resources in these hospitals, aiming to provide basic healthcare services to the local population and reduce the patient load on teaching hospitals.
He emphasised that initiatives are in progress to improve the standards of public sector hospitals, enabling as many of them as possible to be empanelled in the Sehat Card programme, thereby making free healthcare services accessible to people throughout the province.
Gandapur remarked that steps have been taken to address gaps and loopholes in the Sehat Card Scheme, prevent its misuse, and enhance its efficiency, resulting in significant improvements in free treatment facilities under the program.
The Chief Minister shared these views while talking to a delegation from the Insaf Doctors’ Forum, who visited him at his office recently to discuss ongoing reforms in the health sector, improvements in service delivery in public sector hospitals, and ways to address issues faced by the medical community.
He mentioned that the provincial government is planning to include a life insurance scheme in the Sehat Card programme, which he described as a unique initiative for social protection.
Gandapur also noted that his government plans to establish its own life insurance company to manage all its social protection schemes sustainably, adding that, for the first time, bone marrow and liver transplant projects are being launched in the province.
He encouraged the medical community to provide input for improvements and reforms in the health sector, urging doctors to collaborate with the health department to propose actionable measures for integrating emergency and ICU services in all public sector hospitals and enhancing overall patient care systems for the benefit of the wider community.
