ISLAMABAD: Northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Thursday launched the Sehat Sahulat program, becoming the first in Pakistan to introduce a health insurance program covering all residents.

Under the program, each family in the province, regardless of its financial status will be entitled to medical treatment of up to Rs1 million ($6,000) a year at over 250 government and private hospitals across the country.

Present during the launching ceremony, Prime Minister Imran Khan lauded the initiative and expressed hope that other provinces will follow in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's footsteps. "Pressure will be now on other provinces to provide such facility to their citizens," he said, as quoted in a Twitter post by the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

Local governments have been responsible for health care in Pakistan since the devolution of health to the provinces in 2011.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, residents of Malakand division will start receiving the free services from October, followed by Hazara division in November, Mardan and Peshawar in December and Kohat, Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan in January.

The first phase of the program was launched in 2015 but covered only 100,000 families. By January, according to the provincial government, it is expected to cover over 6 million families — about 30 million people.

Data from Islamabad-based public policy think tank Tabadlab, shows that Pakistan ranks 154th out of 195 countries in terms of the quality and accessibility of its health care, which is far behind India (145th), Bangladesh (133rd), Bhutan (134th), and Sri Lanka (71st).

The national health infrastructure serving the country’s 220 million population comprises 1,279 hospitals, 5,527 basic health units, 686 rural health centers, 5,671 dispensaries, 747 maternal and child health center and 441 tuberculosis centers. The total availability of beds in these health facilities is estimated at only 145,124.