A delegation from Ministry of Health Turkey, which is currently on a weeklong tour of Punjab, Saturday visited the King Edward Medical University (KEMU) and sought details about the rules and regulations of the Punjab Human Organs Transplantation Authority and its implementation.
This visit of Turkish delegation is a follow-up of MoU signed between the Punjab government and Turkish Ministry of Health during the visit of the Chief Minister Punjab to Turkey in August 2016. The delegation from the Turkish Ministry of Health is studying the Punjab health system to suggest improvement for effective service delivery. During visit to KEMU, the delegation was also briefed about the medical education system in Punjab and admission policy.
Head of Turkish delegation Dr Selami Kilick has shown interest in health insurance programme and termed it identical to Turkish health green card system. Turkish delegation assured that Ministry of Health Turkey would extend all out cooperation and guidance to the Punjab government for making its programmes a success. It was agreed that Turkish Ministry of Health would extend technical cooperation and consultation to the Punjab health department for the development of nursing sector, capacity-building and training of human resource and further improvement in the system of human organ transplantation.
Later, the delegation visited the office of Secretary Specialized Healthcare & Medical Education Punjab, where the Managing Director of Punjab Health Foundation Dr Sohail Saqlain and Chief Executive Officer Prime Minister National Health Insurance Scheme, Implementation & Management Company Punjab Dr Saira Saddique briefed the delegation about different programmes.
Dr Sohail Saqlain informed the delegation that Punjab government is strengthening the private health sector to provide better healthcare facilities to the people, for this purpose, soft loans have been provided to the doctors of private sector for setting up their clinics/ diagnostic centers. 'Smart loans scheme of rupees upto 0.7 million has recently been introduced for doctors and allied health professionals. These are all interest-free loans,' he said.
Chief Executive Officer Prime Minister Health Insurance programme in Punjab Dr Saira Saddique informed the delegation that like other provinces, 'Health Insurance Scheme' is also being launched in four districts in Punjab as a pilot project. The districts included Rahim Yar Khan, Khanewal, Sargodha and Narowal. She informed that two different package are being introduced to ensure access of poor people to the health facilities. The first scheme for common diseases and procedures is being introduced for which Insurance Card of Rs 50 thousand per family would be provided whereas the other package is Rs 250, 000/- per family per year for chronic and complicated diseases like cardiac diseases, hepatitis, cancer, renal failure etc.
She disclosed that Prime Minister of Pakistan Muhammad Nawaz Sharif is likely to inaugurate health insurance scheme in district Rahim Yar Khan at the end of the current month. Dr Saira Saddique informed that all the expenditure would be met by the government who would provide funds/ premium to the insurance company and poor people would get indoor health facilities in public as well as private hospitals in the respective districts free of cost. After completion of pilot project, plan is underway to introduce universal health coverage in all the districts of the province, she said.
Vice-chancellor KEMU Professor Faisal Masood, VC UHS Major General Dr Muhammad Aslam,(Retd) VC FJMU Professor Dr Fakhar Imam, Special Secretary Specialized Healthcare & Medical Education Dr Sajid Chohan and other senior officers of the department were also present in the meeting.
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