Health · Sehat Sahulat
Pakistan’s health card scheme has been relaunched and extended, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has pushed it into outpatient care for the first time. It remains the most consequential health policy most Pakistani families will ever interact with, and the least understood.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif revived and extended the health card programme to Islamabad Capital Territory, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan in January 2026. Punjab operates its own expanded scheme, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s cabinet has since approved a health policy extending Sehat Card coverage to outpatient services and launching school health services across the province.
The core proposition has not changed. An eligible family receives cash-free treatment at empanelled hospitals up to an annual limit, with the state paying the hospital directly. No premium, no claim form, no reimbursement wait.
What the card covers
Coverage centres on inpatient treatment, and it is broader than most people assume. Maternity services, surgical procedures, emergency care, and treatment for chronic and severe conditions are included, cancer, cardiovascular disease, renal failure including dialysis, neurosurgical care and specialised procedures among them.
These are precisely the categories that bankrupt households. A cardiac procedure or a course of cancer treatment in a private hospital costs multiples of an average annual income, and the usual response has been to sell land, borrow against future earnings, or forgo treatment. The card exists to interrupt that sequence, and where it works, it does.
The outpatient gap, and why KP’s change matters
The scheme’s historic limitation is that it was built around admission. A patient admitted to hospital was covered; the same patient managing diabetes, hypertension or a chronic respiratory condition through regular clinic visits and medication generally was not.
That is a serious gap, because outpatient costs are what grind households down over years rather than ruining them in a week. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa extending coverage to OPD services is the most substantive improvement the scheme has seen, and worth watching as a template for other provinces.
Catastrophic costs are the ones people talk about. Chronic costs are the ones that quietly empty a household’s savings.
What it does not pay for
Understanding the boundaries prevents the worst outcome, which is a family arriving at a hospital assuming coverage they do not have.
Treatment must be at an empanelled hospital. The list changes as hospitals join and leave, and a facility covered last year may not be covered now, verify before admission rather than after. Coverage is also capped annually per family, and a household with one member undergoing sustained expensive treatment can exhaust the limit partway through the year, leaving everyone else uncovered until it resets.
Costs incidental to treatment generally fall outside the scheme. Travel to a distant empanelled hospital, accommodation for accompanying family, and income lost while a wage earner is ill or caring for someone are real and substantial, and no health card addresses them.
Using it properly
Eligibility and the card itself are tied to the CNIC, which makes an accurate, current national identity record the foundation of the whole thing. Families whose CNIC details are outdated, or whose members are not correctly recorded, discover the problem at the hospital counter, the least useful moment. Checking your CNIC status online and ensuring family records are current through NADRA’s online registration services is unglamorous preparation that pays at exactly the wrong moment to be sorting paperwork.
This has become more pressing with NADRA’s move to a chipless CNIC, which changes how the card is read and verified at some facilities.
What to watch next
The scheme’s history has been one of expansion, suspension and relaunch as budgets and political priorities shifted, which is itself the central risk: a health entitlement households plan around needs to be predictable, and this one has not always been.
The signals worth following are the empanelled hospital list in your district, whether the annual family limit keeps pace with medical inflation, and whether the KP outpatient extension is replicated elsewhere. That last one would matter more to more people than any other change the programme could make.
Common questions
What does the Sehat Card cover?
Cash-free inpatient treatment at empanelled hospitals, including maternity services, surgery, emergency care, and treatment for cancer, cardiovascular disease, renal conditions including dialysis, and neurosurgical care, up to an annual family limit.
Where has the scheme been relaunched?
The Prime Minister revived and extended the programme to Islamabad Capital Territory, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan in January 2026. Punjab runs its own expanded scheme.
Does it cover outpatient treatment?
Historically no, coverage was built around hospital admission. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s 2026 health policy extends Sehat Card coverage to OPD services, which is a significant change.
Do I need to pay anything?
No premium and no payment at the hospital for covered treatment at an empanelled facility. The state pays the hospital directly.
How do I know if a hospital is covered?
Check the empanelled hospital list for your area before admission. The list changes as hospitals join and leave the scheme, so a facility covered previously may not be covered now.
What is not covered?
Non-empanelled hospitals, costs above the annual family limit, and incidental expenses such as travel, accommodation for family members and income lost during illness.
What do I need to use it?
Eligibility is tied to your CNIC, so identity records need to be accurate and current. Outdated or incomplete family records are usually discovered at the hospital counter, which is the worst possible moment.
Can the whole family use one card?
Coverage is provided on a family basis up to an annual limit. One member’s sustained expensive treatment can exhaust that limit for everyone until it resets.
