“Sehat Sahulat Program”: A Leap into the Universal Health Coverage in Pakistan

Syed Shahzad Hasan, Zia Ul Mustafa, Chia Siang Kow and Hamid A. Merchant
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Syed Shahzad Hasan: Department of Pharmacy, University of Huddersfield, Queensgate, Huddersfield HD1 3DH, UK
Zia Ul Mustafa: Department of Pharmacy Services, District Head Quarter Hospital, Pakpattan 57400, Pakistan
Chia Siang Kow: School of Pharmacy, International Medical University, Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur 57000, Malaysia
Hamid A. Merchant: Department of Pharmacy, University of Huddersfield, Queensgate, Huddersfield HD1 3DH, UK

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 12, 1-9

Abstract: Universal Health Coverage (UHC), initiative from the World Health Organization (WHO), is a means to provide the human right to health by providing essential health services to everyone, enabling disease prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care. In line with the WHO recommendations, the UHC was first introduced in Pakistan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province under the name ‘Sehat Sahulat Programme’ (SSP), literally ‘Health Facility Program’ in 2015. The provincial Government in Punjab approved a similar initiative in Punjab, the largest province (by population) of the country, and the program was later rolled out in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), Azad and Jammu Kashmir (AJK), Gilgit Baltistan (GB), Sindh, and Baluchistan provinces leaping into the nation-wide coverage. This article provides a current overview of the UHC initiative in Pakistan, analyses its progress in appraising key milestones, and makes recommendations to achieve a robust universal health coverage across Pakistan.

Keywords: Universal Health Coverage; World Health Organization; Benazir Income Support Program (BISP); Sehat Insaf Cards; low and middle-income countries (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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