LAHORE:
The Punjab health system has supposedly left universal coverage to a generalized collapse in just seven years, according to a new white paper that contrasts the possession of the PTI with the reform with what it calls the regressive policies of the PML-N.
Entitled Healing Punjab: Medical Care Reforms, Reversions and the Camino to Recovery (2018-2025), the report, in co-authorship by former Minister of Health, Dr. Yasmin Rashid and researcher Shayan Bashir, will be presented on Monday.
He argues that PTI’s 2018-22 reforms delivered the strongest public health system of Punjab, while subsequent reversions since 2023 have left millions vulnerable, a collapse arrested by the devastating floods of this year.
Between 2018 and 2022, the PTI launched the Sehat Sahulat card, providing health insurance from up to RS1 million annually to 29.3 million families.
More than 900 hospitals, including 654 private facilities, were packaged, and government hospitals obtained RS10 billion in 2021-22 through the scheme. According to the document, 4.2 million families received treatment under the program, which enjoyed a satisfaction rate of 98%.
The PTI government also recruited 33,000 health workers, improved 42 nursing schools and deployed 200 anesthetists in district hospitals. More than 1,200 basic health units (BHU) became 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, six new mother and children hospitals were launched.
He said that the Kidney and Liver Institute of Pakistan (PKLI) became the first public hospital accredited by JCI-JCIS of Pakistan after performing more than 1,700 transplants, while preventive efforts raised 92% immunization by 2021 with the COVID-19 response of Punjab of the WHO and international media.
In marked contrast, the report accuses the PML-N government of dismantling this system. The Sehat card was suspended in June 2025, stripping 29 million health protection families.
The private hospitals network was reduced from 654 to 155, dialysis costs increased to RS5,500 per session, and more than 2,000 BHU and RHC were subcontracted as “Maryam Nawaz clinics”, many of which supposedly lacked doctors or medications. The dismissal of 12,500 IRMNCH employees eroded further the first -line attention.
The governance failures, says the document, deepened the crisis.
The Pakistan general auditor marked RS1 billion in irregularities, RS43 billion were unearthed in procurement scams and supply chains infiltrated in counterfeit medications. Maternal mortality stagnated in 157 per 100,000 living births, while child immunization fell to 89%.
The floods of 2025, which displaced two million people, presented this fragility. In the midst of the sprouts of anger, dengue and malaria, Punjab’s weakened system collapsed just when citizens needed it.
The authors urge policy formulators to restore and expand the Sehat card, reverse subcontracting, re -hire the frontline personnel, digitize the acquisition and integrate climatic resistance into medical care. “Medical care is disaster preparation,” the report concludes. “The dismantled systems in quieter years collapse in crisis.”
