Punjab suspends Sehat Card Treatment outside province

LAHORE: The Punjab government has suspended the Punjab Sehat Card, effective from July 1, 2025, excepting residents from availing medical treatment outside the province under the Sehat Sahulat Program, ARY News reported.

The Punjab Sehat Card will no longer be operational in the federal territories and regions such as Islamabad, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Balochistan, and Gilgit-Baltistan.

According to State Life Insurance Corporation’s official document, all empanelled hospitals in these regions have been instructed to stop providing free treatment to Punjab-based Sehat Card holders.

The directive clarifies that only patients already under treatment before July 1 will be permitted to continue their care.

The Sehat Sahulat Program, once welcomed as a landmark initiative for universal health coverage, is undergoing significant reform.

While the Punjab Sehat Card suspension touches interprovincial access, the program remains active within Punjab and select areas of KP and Balochistan.

This move follows the Punjab government’s wider decision to stop Sehat Card services in public hospitals altogether. As of June 30, 2025, free treatment under the card has been paused in all government hospitals across the province.

The provincial administration, led by Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, is likely to unveil a new targeted healthcare policy focusing on high-cost treatments such as dialysis, cancer care, and pediatric heart surgeries.

Healthcare experts warn that the abrupt Sehat Sahulat Program changes may disproportionately impact low-income families who relied on the card for critical procedures.

Meanwhile, the government has assured that new specialised health cards will be introduced to cover life-saving treatments, aiming to streamline resources and improve service delivery.

The Punjab Sehat Card suspension marks a pivotal moment in the province’s healthcare landscape, signalling a shift from universal coverage to a more targeted, needs-based approach.

The Punjab Drug Control Directorate has launched a key crackdown on counterfeit medicines in Punjab, indicating that the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) to issue a national emergency warning.