Ehsaas Catastrophic Health Expenditure Policy On Anvil

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st Jan, 2021 ) :The members of the Ehsaas Tahafuz Steering Committee in its second meeting held here on Thursday approved various policy measures for expansion of Tahafuz Pilot project.

The committee, chaired by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection, Dr. Sania Nishtar approved the beneficiary eligibility determination mechanism; treatment packages to be covered; and selection of service provider hospitals in line with programme assessment criteria for expanding Tahafuz pilot.

The committee also deliberated on the 'Ehsaas Catastrophic Health Expenditure Policy' that is currently in the pipeline to dovetail Tahafuz with the Sehat Sahulat programme of the government.

The Tahafuz Steering Committee has the mandate to provide managerial and strategic oversight to the Tahafuz programme.

Chairing the meeting, Dr. Nishtar stated that extensive one-year long work has been done on Ehsaas Tahafuz, Pakistan's first shock-oriented precision safety net.

She said the programme was aimed at protecting the vulnerable populations from catastrophic health expenditures and is being pilot tested in one hospital, this quarter, following which it will be upscaled later this year.

Dr. Nishtar said, "Once fully operationalized, Tahafuz will establish a one window paperless and web-based precision safety net. It will also have funders' empowerment features in terms of micro-transaction alerts, and personalized login credentials for detailed web-viewing right down to the micro-transaction level".

"It is hoped that such a system's ability to determine eligibility and categorize beneficiaries, based on preconfigured rules, adopting the national poverty database system will guard against abuse and pilferage. For efficiency and integrity of operations, the systems are being built", she further added.

Later, Dr. Sania inaugurated the "Ehsaas Tahafuz Project Management Unit" to manage the execution of Ehsaas Tahafuz.

As part of institutional arrangements for effective programme management and implementation, the Ehsaas Tahafuz unit is housed at Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division (PASSD).

The team working on the Tahafuz pilot phase also briefed Dr. Nishtar on the progress of the programme.

A 12-member team has been hired following hiring procedures of the government to fulfill the technical demands of the programme. "Ehsaas Tahafuz Project Management Unit is an important element in institutional arrangements and a crucial determinant of efficiency in programme delivery.

A transparent mechanisms was put in place for the purpose of coordinating, planning; financial management; procurement and provision of technical and implementation support, said Dr. Nishtar.

Ehsaas Tahafuz will work with public hospitals to identify patients facing catastrophic health expenditures, who will then be assessed by the system, and if eligible, will be provided funding by allocating donations to the patient. Tahafuz is being rolled out using a phased approach.