Pilot project SSK underway in three upazilas of Tangail
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told parliament her government plans to introduce health insurance to ensure healthcare services for all.
“The present Awami League government plans to introduce health insurance to ensure healthcare services for all in the country,” the premier said, replying to a tabled question from Jatiya Party lawmaker Md Rustum Ali Faraji of Pirojpur-3 constituency.
As part of the plan, health insurance has already been introduced in Madhupur, Ghatail, and Kalihati upazilas of Tangail as a pilot program to ensure healthcare services for the poor, she added, says BSS.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, president of the ruling Awami League and leader of the House, said her government has already formulated “Healthcare Financing Strategy 2012-2032” to ensure universal healthcare services in Bangladesh.
She also said the government has taken up pilot project SSK (Shasthyo Surokhsha Karmasuchi- Social Health Protection Scheme) in line with plans to provide free healthcare services to the poor.
Under the SSK, below the poverty line in Kalihati, Ghatail, and Madhupur upazilas of Tangail district have been receiving healthcare services free of cost for 78 types of diseases, the premier told parliament.
“SSK programs will be extended across the country once the pilot project becomes successful.”
The prime minister said registration of 27,841 families in Kalihati, 27,232 families in Ghatail, and 26,455 families in Madhupur of Tangail district has already been completed.
The government also distributed SSK cards, 27,841 in Kalihati, 26,218 in Madhupur, and 27,118 in Ghatail, to facilitate free healthcare services for them.
In this context, she said the work of automating SSK has already begun.
The government plans to bring the entire country under health insurance coverage, providing medicine and treatment to the people following recommendations from the pilot project regarding health insurance under the direction of the Health Economics unit, the premier said.
The “Social Health Insurance Project” for RMG and tea garden workers has already been prepared, she added.
Source: Dhaka Tribune.
