KEY POINTS
- The expansion aims to provide free, cashless healthcare to nearly 10 million additional citizens.
- Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif emphasised healthcare as a fundamental right for all, focusing on protecting the most vulnerable.
- The programme now operates in most provinces, with a proposal prepared to include the remaining province of Sindh.
ISLAMABAD: In a major expansion of its social safety net, Pakistan has extended free national health insurance to millions more citizens, reviving and broadening a flagship programme aimed at guaranteeing “quality healthcare as a fundamental right.”
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday launched the revitalised Health Card scheme for the federal capital territory and the regions of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, significantly widening state-funded medical coverage to include nearly 10 million additional people.
Addressing a ceremony, the Prime Minister stated this initiative marks a major step toward delivering essential healthcare facilities at the people’s doorstep. He recalled the programme’s inception in 2016 under former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and its subsequent expansion.
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif addressing the launching ceremony of PM's Health Card scheme. pic.twitter.com/nlxCiomrOr
— Government of Pakistan (@GovtofPakistan) January 16, 2026
“Healthcare is the right of every Pakistani”
PM Shehbaz emphasised that while the affluent can seek treatment anywhere, the state’s real test is protecting its most vulnerable. “If a labourer falls ill and leaves this world without treatment, his children are left in permanent darkness,” he said. “Healthcare is the right of every Pakistani, whether a prime minister or a street vendor.”
He stressed that health is the foundation of all progress, stating, “If there is health, there is education; if there is health, there is dignified employment; if there is health, there is progress in every field of life.”
Transparency and nationwide coverage stressed
Prime Minister congratulated Federal Health Minister Dr. Nadeem Jan and the health team, but urged transparent implementation through third-party monitoring to ensure quality standards. He announced he would personally monitor the programme’s progress in collaboration with local leaders.
Responding to a demand for the scheme’s extension to Sindh, PM Shehbaz termed the proposal valid and assured he would personally take it up with the provincial chief minister. He noted the programme’s rapid progress in Punjab and expressed hope for similar facilities nationwide.
Operational details unveiled
Earlier, Health Minister Dr. Nadeem Jan outlined that the revived programme would provide free, cashless healthcare to nearly 10 million residents of the newly included regions. He stated that around 70 hospitals are being empanelled, including 20 additional facilities in Islamabad.
Cardholders from these regions living in Karachi will also be able to access treatment at 16 designated hospitals in the city. The minister noted that Sindh remains the only province where the Prime Minister’s Health Card is not yet operational.
He revealed that a proposal for Sindh, covering 10 districts at an estimated cost of Rs. 24 billion for two years, had been prepared, after which the programme could become self-sustaining. He expressed hope that healthcare deprivation in the province would soon be addressed.
