# Sehat Card in Punjab and KP: is it still working, the limit, and how to check

URL: https://which.pk/money/guides/sehat-card/
Author: Ahtisham
Updated: 24 Oct 2026

## Summary

The Sehat Card pays for hospital admissions, with your CNIC as the card, but it works differently in Punjab and KP. In Punjab it covers Rs 4 lakh a family a year for major treatment and Rs 60,000 for secondary care, only at private empanelled hospitals since 30 June 2025, where patients have paid 50% of most bills since 2024. KP's Sehat Card Plus covers every resident family, up to Rs 10 lakh a year. Check eligibility by sending your CNIC number to 8500. OPD visits are never covered.

## Key facts

- Punjab, major treatment: Rs 4 lakh a family a year
- Punjab hospitals: Private empanelled only, since 1 Jul 2025
- KP cover: Up to Rs 10 lakh a family a year
- Eligibility check: SMS your CNIC to 8500

The **Sehat Card** still works in 2026, but differently in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). In Punjab it covers **Rs 4 lakh a family a year** for major treatment, only at **private empanelled hospitals** since 30 June 2025. KP's Sehat Card Plus covers every resident family for up to **Rs 10 lakh a year**. To check if your family is covered, **send your CNIC number by SMS to 8500**. Your CNIC is the card, and OPD visits are never covered.

## How do I check if I have a Sehat Card?

Send your 13-digit CNIC number by SMS to **8500**. The reply comes within a few minutes. In KP you can also send it to **9780**, the programme's 2025 FAQ says.

There's nothing to apply for and no separate card to collect. If you are a permanent resident of a covered province on your NADRA record, your family is enrolled, and your original CNIC is your Sehat Card.

If you aren't showing up, the problem is usually your NADRA family record. In KP, newly married couples and widows or divorced women registering as head of family are added on **1 January and 1 July**. A newborn is covered for its first month, and after that needs a Form-B.

## What is the Punjab Sehat Card limit?

Pakistan Observer reported Punjab's limits from PHIMC's website in March 2025. They match the federal Sehat Sahulat Program's 2025 FAQ:

| Cover | Limit per family per year |
|---|---|
| Priority care (major treatment) | Rs 4 lakh |
| Secondary care | Rs 60,000 |
| Special circumstances | Up to Rs 10 lakh |

PHIMC is the Punjab Health Initiative Management Company, which runs the card in Punjab. The limit refills once a year. Life-threatening conditions still get treatment after the limit runs out, the report said. We couldn't open PHIMC's website from our location on 24 October 2026 to check for newer limits.

## Is the Sehat Card still working in Punjab?

Yes, but with three big changes since 2023:

1. **Only private hospitals.** PHIMC closed the scheme in all public hospitals from **30 June 2025**. PHIMC's chief executive said public hospitals are already free, and Daily Times reported that CM programmes now pay for heart surgery and dialysis there. Health Minister Khawaja Salman Rafiq said the card remains fully operational in private hospitals.
2. **Not outside Punjab.** From **1 July 2025**, Punjab cardholders can't use the card at hospitals in Islamabad, AJK, Sindh, KP, Balochistan or Gilgit-Baltistan, ARY News reported from a State Life document.
3. **You pay half at private hospitals.** Punjab added a co-payment in September 2023 and raised it to **50%** from 16 January 2024, The News reported. In July 2025 a doctors' association leader told Voicepk that patients may still pay up to 50% at private hospitals.

**Ask about the 50% before you're admitted:** In September 2023 PHIMC exempted cancer, dialysis, ICU cases, thalassemia, trauma, emergencies and patients aged 65 and over (except heart treatment) from the co-payment. The January 2024 notice that raised it to 50% didn't mention these exemptions, The News reported. We couldn't confirm which apply now, so ask the Sehat Card counter what you'll pay.

## What is the Maryam Nawaz health card?

We found no renamed Sehat Card. People searching for a "Maryam Nawaz health card" are probably looking for the **CM Special Initiative Card**, which Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz announced on 9 December 2025. It pays for treatment of **cancer and heart patients** up to **Rs 10 lakh** each, for **45,000 patients** in its first phase, Dunya News reported.

The reports didn't say how to get the card, and we found no later notice on how patients apply. It is separate from the Sehat Card.

## How does the KP Sehat Card Plus work?

Sehat Card Plus covers **every permanent resident family** of KP, about 10.7 million families, ProPakistani reported in March 2026. State Life Insurance runs it, and you can use it at any empanelled hospital in Pakistan.

| What you get | Amount |
|---|---|
| Priority care | Rs 4 lakh a family a year |
| Secondary care | Rs 2 lakh a family a year |
| Extra for transplants, cancer, heart disease and ICU | On top of the above |
| Total cover | Up to Rs 10 lakh a family a year |
| After a delivery | Rs 1,000 on discharge |
| If the head of family dies during treatment | Rs 10 lakh (under 60) or Rs 5 lakh (over 60) |

The first rows come from the KP FAQ archived in April 2025. Dawn reported the Rs 10 lakh family total in January 2024, and Profit reported the life insurance payout in January 2025.

The KP budget for the card rose from Rs 35 billion in 2025 to **Rs 41 billion**, the health minister said in September 2026. Hospitals have complained of late payments: Ayub Teaching Hospital had received Rs 38 million of the Rs 700 million it was owed, ProPakistani reported in March 2026.

## What does the Sehat Card cover?

Only treatment that needs a **hospital admission**. The federal programme's FAQ lists heart procedures, cancer treatment, dialysis, diabetes, burns, road accidents and organ failure. Your husband or wife and unmarried children are covered, with no limit on family size.

It doesn't cover OPD visits, and you get no cash if you never use it. In December 2023 Punjab also stopped delivery cases and cataract surgery at private hospitals, The News reported.

## Where is the Sehat Card hospital list?

On each programme's website. We couldn't open PHIMC's site or KP's sehatcardplus.gov.pk from our location on 24 October 2026, so we can't link a current list. In Punjab, ask the hospital whether it is **empanelled** before admission: only 191 of the 318 empanelled hospitals had a regular licence by 20 December 2023, The News reported.

KP's programme had 700 empanelled hospitals in March 2026, 169 of them inside KP.

## What if the Sehat Card doesn't cover enough?

Private health insurance can fill the gap, especially in Punjab now that you pay half of most private-hospital bills. Our guide to [health insurance in Pakistan](/money/guides/health-insurance-pakistan/) compares plans from Rs 2.25 lakh to Rs 10 lakh a year, and the federal card in Islamabad, AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan.

**More guides:** [Health insurance in Pakistan](/money/guides/health-insurance-pakistan/) · [Life insurance in Pakistan](/money/guides/life-insurance-pakistan/) · [CM Punjab schemes list](/money/guides/cm-punjab-schemes-list/) · [BISP 8171](/money/guides/bisp-8171/) · [CM Punjab Himmat Card](/money/guides/cm-punjab-himmat-card/)

## Questions people ask

### How do I check if I have a Sehat Card?

Send your 13-digit CNIC number by SMS to 8500; the reply comes within minutes. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa you can also send it to 9780. There is no separate card: your CNIC is the Sehat Card.

### What is the Punjab Sehat Card limit?

Rs 4 lakh a family a year for priority (major) treatment and Rs 60,000 for secondary care, rising to Rs 10 lakh in special cases, Pakistan Observer reported from PHIMC's website in March 2025.

### Can I use the Sehat Card in a government hospital in Punjab?

No. Punjab ended the Sehat Card in public hospitals on 30 June 2025. It works only at private empanelled hospitals, and from 1 July 2025 not outside Punjab.

### What is the Maryam Nawaz health card?

We found no renamed Sehat Card. In December 2025 the Chief Minister announced a separate CM Special Initiative Card for cancer and heart patients, worth up to Rs 10 lakh each, for 45,000 patients in its first phase.

### Does the Sehat Card cover OPD?

No. It pays only when a doctor admits you to hospital. Check-ups and medicines without admission aren't covered.

## Sources

- [Check eligibility for Punjab Health Card for up to Rs1 million benefits (17 Mar 2025)](https://pakobserver.net/check-eligibility-for-punjab-health-card-for-up-to-rs1-million-benefits/), Pakistan Observer (accessed 24 Oct 2026)
- [Frequently Asked Questions (Internet Archive copy, 7 May 2025)](https://web.archive.org/web/20250507142054/https://www.pmhealthprogram.gov.pk/faqs/), Sehat Sahulat Program (accessed 13 Oct 2026)
- [Sehat Card Plus FAQ (Internet Archive copy, 5 Apr 2025)](https://web.archive.org/web/20250405023727/https://sehatcardplus.gov.pk/faq/), Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (accessed 13 Oct 2026)
- [Sehat Sahulat Programme: services clipped as facility misused in private sector (27 Dec 2023)](https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1142025-sehat-sahulat-programme-services-clipped-as-facility-misused-in-private-sector), The News (accessed 24 Oct 2026)
- [Health Card co-payment raised by 10pc (15 Jan 2024)](https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1147910-health-card-co-payment-raised-by-10pc), The News (accessed 24 Oct 2026)
- [Sehat card confusion deepens as Punjab ends services in government hospitals (30 Jun 2025)](https://dailytimes.com.pk/1326289/sehat-card-confusion-deepens-as-punjab-ends-services-in-government-hospitals/), Daily Times (accessed 24 Oct 2026)
- [Punjab cites 'financial inefficiencies' for closure of Sehat Card Programme (1 Jul 2025)](https://voicepk.net/2025/07/punjab-cites-financial-inefficiencies-for-closure-of-sehat-card-programme/), Voicepk (accessed 24 Oct 2026)
- [Punjab suspends Sehat Card treatment outside province](https://arynews.tv/punjab-sehat-card-suspension-outside-province-starts-july-1/), ARY News (accessed 13 Oct 2026)
- [CM Punjab announces 'Special Initiative Card' for cancer patients (9 Dec 2025)](https://dunyanews.tv/en/Pakistan/922656-cm-punjab-announces-special-initiative-card-for-cancer-patients), Dunya News (accessed 24 Oct 2026)
- [2.78m benefitted from Sehat Card programme since 2016 (31 Jan 2024)](https://www.dawn.com/news/1809886), Dawn (accessed 24 Oct 2026)
- [KP introduces life insurance scheme under Sehat Card Plus (25 Jan 2025)](https://profit.pakistantoday.com.pk/2025/01/25/kp-introduces-life-insurance-scheme-under-sehat-card-plus), Profit (Pakistan Today) (accessed 24 Oct 2026)
- [KP govt raises Sehat Card Plus budget (31 Mar 2026)](https://propakistani.pk/2026/03/31/kp-govt-raises-sehat-card-plus-budget/), ProPakistani (accessed 13 Oct 2026)
- [KP govt plans to keep 20% income from Sehat Card (28 Sep 2026)](https://propakistani.pk/2026/09/28/kp-govt-plans-to-keep-20-income-from-sehat-card/), ProPakistani (accessed 13 Oct 2026)