Health for all

Free public healthcare should be a universal right that is provided by the government. There is never any justification for a family to have to bankrupt themselves just to stay alive. Unfortunately, universal healthcare in Pakistan has been an aspiration that we have never come close to achieving. Instead, we rely on a patchwork of private and public hospitals and confusion reigns between the federal and provincial governments over who should be running hospitals. The Sehat Insaf Card Scheme launched by Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday tries to do the best it can in the short term by providing free healthcare up to Rs720,000 a year for poor families with an aim of eventually covering 15 million people. At first, the cards will be distributed in only Islamabad and the tribal areas that have merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but the prime minister hopes to expand the programme after that.Interestingly, the Sehat Insaf Card is essentially the Prime Minister National Health Programme, set up by the previous PML-N government in 2015, under a new name. Such rebranding exercises serve only to stoke egos of politicians but can be confusing for the public.The Sehat Insaf Card Scheme suffers from many of the same structural problems as the Prime Minister National Health Programme. The latter healthcare reform was thwarted by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh, both of which refused to join it. Similar pushback can be expected from the provinces again as they feel all healthcare responsibilities belong to them under the 18th Amendment. The matter even made its way to the Supreme Court with the federal government winning a case against Sindh over running certain public hospitals in the province. There needs to be some clarity over how healthcare facilities are to be managed. Ideally, a centralised healthcare system would be in place where all citizens, regardless of ability to pay, are provided free care. The Sehat Insaf Card Scheme, however, acts more as health insurance. It essentially admits that the government is unable to provide universal health care and so will reimburse some of the people who cannot afford private healthcare. As worthy as the measure is, it will not help bring us closer to a system where no one has to worry about receiving adequate treatment for free.

from The News International - Editorial http://bit.ly/2MVeCyU