When a family member lands in hospital, Pakistan’s health schemes decide whether treatment starts or the family starts borrowing. They work differently by province. The federal Sehat Sahulat Program covers families identified in the poverty survey, up to Rs 1 million a year, with your CNIC as the card. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Sehat Card Plus goes further in one way, covering every resident automatically, but its limits were restructured in July 2026 and are widely misreported. Balochistan runs a health card too, and behind it a case-by-case endowment fund for the diagnoses that break every card limit: cancer, transplants, open heart surgery. And inside BISP, Nashonuma quietly protects the first two years of a child’s life. This page puts the four side by side.
The Schemes at a Glance
| Scheme | Who is covered | Cover | Check |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sehat Sahulat Program | Families in the NSER survey, in its coverage areas | Up to Rs 1 million per family per year | SMS CNIC to 8500 |
| Sehat Card Plus | Every permanent KP resident, automatically | Rs 40,000 per member secondary + Rs 400,000 per family tertiary + reserve | SMS CNIC to 8500 or 9780 |
| Balochistan Awami Endowment Fund | Poor Balochistan patients, case-approved | Full approved cost, even Rs 20 to 30 million for a transplant | Via district Social Welfare offices |
| Benazir Nashonuma | BISP mothers and children under 2 | Quarterly stipends plus specialised food | At Nashonuma Facilitation Centres |
| Balochistan Health Card | All Balochistan families | Free admitted treatment at 1,200+ panel hospitals | SMS CNIC to 8500 |
Sehat Sahulat: The Survey-Based Card
Sehat Sahulat is the original health card model: eligibility comes from the NSER poverty data, the CNIC itself is the card, and admitted treatment at empanelled hospitals is paid up to Rs 1 million per family per year. Outpatient care is generally not covered, which is the single most common misunderstanding. Our Sehat Sahulat guide explains the 8500 check, what happens at the hospital desk and the emergency rules.
Sehat Card Plus: Universal in KP, Restructured in 2026
KP removed the poverty test entirely: if your CNIC carries a permanent KP address, your family is in. From 1 July 2026 the cover is published in parts: Rs 40,000 per member for secondary care, Rs 400,000 per family for tertiary care, and a further Rs 400,000 reserve for dialysis, cancer, heart and ICU cases if funds allow. The famous “Rs 1 million” is the sum a large family can reach, not a single pot. Our Sehat Card Plus guide tables the structure and the balance check.
BAEF: When the Bill Is in Crores
Cards have ceilings; catastrophe does not. Balochistan’s Awami Endowment Fund approves individual cases on merit and pays the treating hospital directly, at centres from Quetta to Karachi and Lahore, for cancer, open heart surgery, thalassemia and liver, kidney and bone marrow transplants. The province reported Rs 5.13 billion spent on 3,397 patients by February 2025. There is no portal: cases move through district Social Welfare offices with a complete medical file. Our BAEF guide lists the steps.
Nashonuma: Health Starts Before the Hospital
The fourth entry is preventive: Benazir Nashonuma pays BISP mothers and their under-2 children quarterly stipends (raised in April 2026 to Rs 2,500 for the mother, Rs 2,500 per boy and Rs 3,000 per girl) plus specialised nutritious food and checkups at 500-plus facilitation centres in hospitals. It exists because the cheapest hospital admission is the one malnutrition never causes. Our Nashonuma guide covers enrolment and documents.
Balochistan Health Card: the CNIC Is the Card
Balochistan runs its own universal card alongside the federal programme. Every family with a permanent Balochistan address in NADRA records is covered for up to Rs 1 million a year of admitted treatment at more than 1,200 panel hospitals, with the CNIC itself acting as the card and eligibility checked by SMS to 8500. Our Balochistan Health Card guide explains the cover, the hospital process and the NADRA mistakes that make families look uncovered.
How to Know Which Door Is Yours
- Keep the family NADRA record current; every card on this page reads it.
- Check before you travel: SMS the patient’s CNIC to 8500 (9780 also works in KP) and confirm the hospital is empanelled.
- Admission is covered; OPD is not, on both card schemes.
- Facing a transplant or long cancer treatment in Balochistan: build the BAEF file early, in parallel with any card treatment.
Health Schemes: FAQs
SMS the CNIC, without dashes, to 8500 (in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 9780 also works). The reply confirms enrolment for Sehat Sahulat and Sehat Card Plus families.
It is a sum of parts since July 2026: Rs 40,000 per member for secondary care, Rs 400,000 per family for tertiary care, plus a Rs 400,000 reserve for the most serious cases. A family of five can reach about Rs 1 million in a heavy year.
No. Both Sehat Sahulat and Sehat Card Plus pay for treatment during hospital admission only. OPD consultations, standalone tests and take-home medicine are not covered.
Case-approved treatment of major diseases for poor patients: cancer, open heart surgery, thalassemia, and liver, kidney and bone marrow transplants, at approved hospitals nationwide.
Pregnant and breastfeeding mothers and children under two from BISP Kafaalat families, enrolled at Nashonuma Facilitation Centres, receiving stipends, specialised food and checkups.
No. On the card schemes your CNIC is the card; the hospital verifies your family record and balance at admission, with biometric verification.
Before you act, it helps to see the four schemes as one pathway rather than four separate offers. Start with the SMS check, because it answers the first question in minutes and stops a wasted trip to a hospital that is not empanelled. If the reply shows cover, keep the CNIC ready, ask the hospital desk to confirm the remaining balance where possible, and keep every admission slip, test report and discharge summary in one file. If the reply shows no cover, check whether the family record needs updating at NADRA, and in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa remember that permanent residence, not a poverty score, is the test. For a very large bill in Balochistan, do not wait for the card limit to run out before starting the endowment file, because medical reports, referrals and approvals take time. For a young child, enrolment at a facilitation centre matters as much as any later treatment, because regular checkups and food support reduce the risk of a serious admission. With those steps in order, families can focus on treatment instead of paperwork at the moment they can least afford delay, and they can return to this guide whenever a new diagnosis, a new hospital or a new province rule changes the door they should use first.
Last updated: November 4, 2026