Punjab Minister for Health Dr Yasmin Rashid on Monday said that Punjab’s cancer hospitals were being empaneled in Naya Pakistan Qaumi Sehat Card Program.
She said this while presiding over a meeting to review measures taken for facilities and services for cancer patients here at the Specialized Healthcare and Medical Education (SH&ME).
During the meeting, the Minister directed the officials to expedite work on finalization of PC 1 of oncology centers in nine divisional centers.
Special Secretary Ajmal Bhatti apprised the Minister about steps taken while experts from public and private hospitals shared their suggestions.
Read more: Breast cancer in Pakistan: Challenges, hopes and the journey ahead
The Health Minister said that a state of the art centralized nerve centre was planned and 12 cancer centers were being upgraded to control cases and facilitate patients. She said that special courses would be initiated for nurses and technical staff, adding that a new course for cancer technologists would be initiated and cancer clinical guidelines would be issued.
Yasmin Rashid said that SH&ME had CT scan facility which was available at DHQ and THQ hospitals, adding that the department would review progress after 10 days for initiative for cancer patients.
SH&ME Secretary Ahmed Javed Qazi, Professor Mehmud Shaukat, Additional Secretary Dr Hafiz Shahid Latif, Professor Javed Chaudhry, Dr Irfan, Dr Sharifur Rehman, Dr Kausar Bano and many oncologists were present.
So far ~763,000 people have used Sehat Card in Punjab, with 98.5% satisfaction rate. Alhamdulillah!!
Our Health Minister @Dr_YasminRashid shared statistics of Top 10 treatments with media today: pic.twitter.com/igYLdcI7rI
— Usman Buzdar (@UsmanAKBuzdar) February 20, 2022
The PTI government’s revolutionary Sehat Card has gained massive popularity in the Punjab province in a short amount of time. To clarify, PM Khan launched the distribution of Naya Pakistan Sehat Card for entire Punjab on 31st December 2021.
According to details, for the month of February, over 118000 people used the Sehat Card. This takes the total number of Sehat Card beneficiaries in Punjab to 852,397. Interestingly, this is almost a 90% increase from January when the number was 62, 837.
Read more: Sehat Card: PTI governments only success story
Furthermore, last month, Chief Minister of Punjab Usman Buzdar revealed that there was a 98. 5% satisfaction rate out of the 763000 Sehat Card beneficiaries in Punjab. This is indeed an achievement as it is the first time in Pakistan’s history such health coverage is being provided.
APP with additional input by GVS News Desk