Healthcare Rights
Sehat Sahulat, provincial Healthcare Commissions, informed consent, mental health, organ transplant, and how to complain about a doctor or hospital.
Covered in this guide:
Healthcare in Pakistan is mostly out-of-pocket: over 60% of all medical spending. The state has tried to address this through the Sehat Sahulat Programme (free hospital care up to Rs 1 million per family per year in participating provinces) and provincial healthcare regulators (PHC, SHCC, KPHCC, BHCC, ICTHCC) that license practitioners and adjudicate complaints.
For most readers, the everyday rights that matter are informed consent, the right to refuse treatment, emergency-care duties, complaint mechanisms against negligent doctors and hospitals, and access to medical records. The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council Act 2022 revived a national regulator for doctors, while provincial commissions handle hospital and pharmacy regulation.
Key Laws
Punjab Healthcare Commission Act 2010 / Sindh HC Act 2013 / KP HC Act 2015 / Balochistan HC Act 2019 / ICT HC Ordinance 2018
Provincial / ICT
Independent regulators that license, inspect, and discipline hospitals and clinics; receive and decide complaints of negligence and malpractice.
Pakistan Medical and Dental Council Act 2022
Act XXXIV of 2022
National regulator of doctors and dentists. Registration, code of ethics, malpractice tribunals.
Sehat Sahulat Programme
Federal/Provincial micro-health insurance
Free hospital cover (in-patient) for eligible families up to Rs 1 million per year. KP-launched, expanded to Punjab, GB, Tharparkar; Sindh has its own scheme. Verified at sehatsahulat.com.pk.
Mental Health Ordinance 2001 + provincial Mental Health Acts
Federal + Sindh 2013, Punjab 2014, KP 2017
Voluntary and involuntary admission, capacity, treatment without consent, Mental Health Authorities and Review Boards.
Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act 2010
Act V of 2010
Donor consent rules, prohibition on commercial trade, Human Organ Transplant Authority oversight, criminal penalties for illegal trade.
Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan Act 2012
Act XXI of 2012
Drug registration, MRP, pharmacy licensing, recall powers, prosecution of fake/substandard medicine.
Informed Consent for Medical Treatment
You do not have to sign anything until your questions are answered. That is the whole point of informed consent, and yet every senior doctor in Pakistan has watched a relative sign a thick stack of pr...
Right to Emergency Care
No private hospital in Pakistan is allowed to send an emergency case away for non-payment of a deposit. Stabilise first, bill afterwards. That principle has been held by the Lahore High Court and the...
Sehat Sahulat / Naya Pakistan Health Card
SMS your CNIC to 8500. That is the fastest way to know whether your family is currently covered by Sehat Sahulat, because eligibility has shifted with provincial governments. KP and Gilgit-Baltistan s...
Right to Medical Records
Your records belong to you. Not to the hospital, not to the doctor, not to the billing department. Hospitals can charge a small copying fee (Rs 50 to Rs 500 is typical), but they cannot withhold the f...
Medical Negligence Complaints
The strongest medical negligence cases in Pakistan are usually built on two documents: a complete set of hospital records, and a written second opinion from another senior doctor of the same specialty...
Mental Health — Voluntary and Involuntary Admission
An involuntary psychiatric admission in Pakistan is not a private family decision. It is a regulated medical act that requires a registered psychiatrist's certificate, an application by the next of ki...
Organ Donation and Transplantation
If somebody offers to "arrange" a kidney for you in Pakistan for cash, walk away. Both buyer and seller commit a criminal offence under the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act 20...