Transvestites Made Part Of Sehat Insaf Cards, To Get Free Medication Facilities

The provincial government of Khyber Pkhtoonkhwa on Friday announced to provide Sehat Insaf Cards to transgenders of Peshawar district for providing free medical treatment up to Rs 540,000 annually in public and private hospitals

PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Jan, 2018 ) :The provincial government of Khyber Pkhtoonkhwa on Friday announced to provide Sehat Insaf Cards to transgenders of Peshawar district for providing free medical treatment up to Rs 540,000 annually in public and private hospitals.

The sehat insaf cards were provided to eunuch at a special function held here at Press Club. Director General Health Services KP Dr. Ayub Roze, Director Social Welfare Department Abid Kakakhel and Deputy Director Liaquat Ali addressed the event.

As many as 69 percent population of the province were getting free of cost of medication through the Sehat Insaf Cards across the province. So far Rs.1.8 billion rupees from the provincial kitty have been spent under this scheme.

Till date, over 70,000 facilities of admissions and operations have been provided under the same scheme to the sehat insaf cards holders. DG Health Services Dr. Ayub Roze said that health facilities were being provided to the majority of population of the province through various health projects and inclusion of transvestites in sehat insaf cards scheme speaks of KP government's priority to this effect.

Abid Kakakhel and Liaquat Ali in their speeches said the government was not only providing the facility of free medication to the transvestites but also mulling a proposal to formulate separate policy for them aimed at improving their image in the society.

High level committee in this regard has been prepared and soon it would come up with viable recommendations. Director Sehat Insaf Cards Dr.Riaz Tanoli said that no such facility of free medical treatment available to the transvestite of other provinces.

Qamar Naseem Coordinator Blue Veins, an organization working for the welfare of transvestite community, lauded the KP government decision of making the eunuch part of the sehat insaf cards. Farzana Jan Provincial President Trans Action Society has also expressed pleasure over the provision of free medical facilities to the transgender as majority of them lived below poverty line.