PESHAWAR: The burn and trauma centre at Hayatabad has temporarily stopped Sehat Card treatment facilities, which has put burn patients in a very difficult situation because a large number of them cannot afford the expensive treatment.
As reported by patients and their families, the expenses of treatment at the burn centre are so high that they are not affordable for the average citizens, and as a result, they have to buy medicines and other necessary medical requirements at a very high rate from private markets themselves.
Relatives of patients, as per a private TV report, expressed that the discontinuation of Sehat Card services has made their situation worse financially, to the extent that a lot of them have not been able to complete their treatment due to lack of funds. Furthermore, they said that burning cases require dressing of wounds daily, giving injections, and taking antibiotics, which are quite difficult to afford in low-income families.
Officials of the hospital administration claimed that the centre is still offering free treatment with the resources it has, but the Sehat Card services have been temporarily suspended and are expected to be resumed on December 1.
Those whose relatives are patients have appealed the government to get the Sehat Card services back without any delay as they say that the Hayatabad Burn and Trauma Centre is the only hospital where people can get the treatment they need after a burn incident in the whole of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
ALSO READ: Nation celebrates 148th birth anniversary of poet-philosopher Allama Iqbal
Moreover, a hospital spokesperson said that the suspension has caused the patients who are poor and belong to low-income families to experience financial problems to a great extent, and thus she emphasized on the necessity of the programme being brought back as soon as possible so that patients would be able to go on with their treatment without any interruption.
