PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has approved recommendations of the worl(ing group on health insurance scheme for the public sector employees of the province.

Under the scheme, 433,000 government employees would be given an option of availing of health care facilities under thehealthinsurance card.

This was decided in a meeting held at the Chief Minister Secretariat here on Tuesday, a statement said. The chief minister presided over the meeting, which was also attended by secretary health Abid Majeed and head of strategic supportunit Sahibzada Saeed.

Participants of the meeting were briefed about offering the health insurance facility to the public sector employees, its objectives, impacts, the scope of work and the possible cost of the scheme. Different recommendations came for approval of the meeting.

The meeting was informed that under the scheme, there would be a uniform system for all the employees. Presently, the medical attendants` rules cover 40 per cent of class-IV employees and 75 per cent of those below grade-16. However, because of the inefficient processing and minimal accountability, the utilisation process is facing problems.

The referral cases, pre-payment and the reimbursement were some of the complications the lower cadre employees could hardly afford and therefore there was no uniformity in the problem redressal system. The meeting noted that the present system could be upgraded through the required level of manpower and the revision of rules, which would require spending by the government.

In order to ensure that the scheme is transparent and durable, two packages have been suggested for the social health protection.

The chief minister agreed to extend the health card scheme to the public sector employees, hoping that it would ensure a uniform health response to all the employees by the government. He directed for a transparent mechanism for extension of efficient health care to the public sector employees through health insurance card.