Lahore:
The Punjab health system would have increased from universal coverage to a generalized collapse in just seven years, according to a new white paper contrasting the reform mandate of the PTI with what it calls the regressive policies of the PML-N.
Entitled Healing Punjab: Health care reforms, inversions and Road to Recovery (2018-2025), the report – co -written by the former Minister of Health, Dr. Yasmin Rashid and researcher Shayan Bashir – should be unveiled on Monday.
He argues that the PTI 2018-22 PTI reforms delivered the strongest public health system in Punjab, while subsequent inversions since 2023 have left millions of vulnerable people, a collapse exposed by the devastating floods this year.
Between 2018 and 2022, the PTI deployed the SAHULAT Sehat card, offering health insurance that up to 1 million rupees per year at 29.3 million families.
More than 900 hospitals, including 654 private installations, were pullen and government hospitals won 10 billion rupees in 2021-2022 through the program. According to the newspaper, 4.2 million families received treatment as part of the program, which experienced a satisfaction rate of 98%.
The PTI government has also recruited 33,000 health workers, improved 42 nursing schools and deployed 200 anesthesists in district hospitals. More than 1,200 basic health units (BHUS) were converted into 24/7 facilities, six new mother and child hospitals were launched.
He indicated that Pakistan Renney and Liver Institute (PKLI) has become the first public hospital accredited by JCI in Pakistan after having carried out more than 1,700 transplants while preventive efforts increased vaccination to 92% by 2021 with the Punjab Covid-19 response for the praise of WHO and international media.
On the other hand, 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 hospital network has increased from 654 to 155, dialysis costs increased to RS5,500 by session, and more than 2,000 BHU and RHC were outsourced as “Maryam Nawaz clinics”, many of which would have lacked doctors or medicines. The rejection of 12,500 ENMRC employees has further eroded front line care.
Governance failures, says the document, deepened the crisis.
Pakistan’s auditor, reported RS1 Billion of irregularities, 43 billion rupees in the supply of supply has been discovered and supply chains infiltrated by counterfeit drugs. Maternal mortality stagnated at 157 per 100,000 living births, while the immunization of children dropped to 89%.
The floods of 2025, which moved two million people, explained this fragility. In the midst of the epidemics of cholera, dengue and malaria, the weakened system of Punjab collapsed just when citizens needed it.
The authors urge decision -makers to restore and extend the Sehat card, to reverse outsourcing, to re -hire leading staff, to digitize supply and to integrate climate resilience in health care. “Health care is preparation for disasters,” concludes the report. “Systems dismantled in the quieter years collapsed in crisis.”
