A section Pakistani public is still in confusion about health card and how it works and due to that they facing some problems. Here are three major issues we repeatedly get to hear and you should educate yourself about before you go to some hospital to avail free healthcare facility using health card.
1) Your ID Card Is Actually Your Health Card.
The naive Pakistani public is in confusion that theymight need that Red and Green card often shown in advertisement, to avail free healthcare facility in hospitals. No! that’s not the case. Those cards were required only until there were no universal heath coverage and only a few selected people who belonged to the lowest strata of population were being given this facility. That’s not the case anymore. Now, since the coverage is universal in many cities and provinces of Pakistan, and the whole population is covered under healthcare insurance, you ID Card has become your Health Card. The health card counter at the hospital can give you health services on your ID card.
2) You MUST have your ID and NADRA data updated to avail free healthcare facility
People are complaining that they are not being given the facility at hospitals and being refused to be treated. That’s because some people are still not registered with NADRA, means they don’t have their ID cards made. Government of Pakistan is asking the masses to make sure they have their ID cards and made and their latest credentials are updated in NADRA database. For example, your latest and clear family tree must be updated in NADRA database. If you are married, your marriage must be registered with in NADRA data and if you have some new born children their birth certificates and registration in your family database is must, so they maybe treated under the health card of the family head. Update all your Data with NADRA before you go to Hospital.
3) Not All Hospital Treat All Types of Disease on Health Card.
Many people have been complaining that we went to this particular hospital but they didn’t treat us on health card despite being on the panel of State Life/Health Card. Some media outlets and political rivals have been making propaganda videos which have been showing cases like this particular hospital refused to facilitate this treatment on health card.
One thing you must keep in mind that not all hospitals are specialized in treating all types of disease. That’s why government has divided and assigned particular kind of treatments to some specific specialized hospitals for that particular disease.
For example, The Cardiology Center will cover heart diseases only. Shaukat Khanum might only treat Cancer patients and PKLI is specialized in liver related disease. If some hospital is assigned only heart diseases, they might simply refuse to treat your lungs. So, it is also your job to do a little research to know what hospital in your city is specialized in which kind of treatments.
This video explains it further:
Video credits: Trends Pakistan