KP’s Regional Hospitals to Provide Free Medicines to Cancer Patients

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has decided to provide free medicines to cancer patients at the regional hospitals of the province. The free oral drugs to blood cancer patients will be covered under the Sehat Card Plus.

The decision was taken to facilitate those who had to travel to Peshawar  from far flung areas to receive medicines   at oncology department of Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC). KP government has been providing free medicines since 2014.

Now, the oral cancer treatment has been added to Sehat Card Plus. According to official figures, over 20,000 patients have so far benefited from the free cancer treatment programme.

The chief executive officer of Sehat Card Plus programme, Dr Mohammad Riaz Tanoli, clarified that HMC will continue to provide free medicines. However, it was better to provide medicines to patients in their own districts rather than making them travel to Peshawar for it.

He added that cancer treatment programme would be merged with Sehat Card Plus in a month after which the patients would begin getting free medication in Bannu, Hazara, Malakand, Swat and other districts.

“Currently, cancer patients receive free surgical and chemotherapy services in Peshawar, Abbottabad, Swat, Bannu, Islamabad and Karachi. Merger of the project with SCP would enable the non-admitted blood cancer patients to get free drugs,” Tanoli said.

He revealed that the decision to merge HMC’s project in SCP was taken upon the directions of Health Minister Taimur Jhagra.

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