PESHAWAR: About 1.2 million patients availed free treatment services at a cost of Rs35 billion on Sehat Card Plus in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the year 2025, according to annual report.

The programme received 55.19 per cent women patients compared to 44.81 per cent men last year. As per report, a total of 11, 98,140 people received free treatment at a cost of Rs35.026 billion in the province.

People in the age group of 20-29 years remained top beneficiaries of the cashless healthcare initiative of the provincial government as 193,744 admissions were recorded while people aged 30-39 were hospitalised during last year. The number of patients above 80 years, who sought medical services on SCP, was 23,439. Hospitalisations of children up to nine years were 111,596 while the number was 97,756 for patients between 10 to 19 years.

Women patients outnumbered men as according to the report 677,863 females and 550,263 males benefitted from the programme last year. Only one transgender person received free medical treatment under the scheme.

Women availing services under SCP outnumber men

Since February 2016, a total of 4,978,491 patients have received free diagnostic and treatment support at a cost of Rs135 billion under the programme. The scheme covers the entire population of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa consisting of 10,779,575 families having 34,542,525 individuals.

The programme has empanelled public and private hospitals as the former admitted 763,688 patients, earning Rs19.272 billion, while the latter generated revenue of Rs12.778 billion by admitting 369,255 patients.

The public sector Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar, received the highest number of patients under the scheme as it recorded 67,632 admissions and Mardan Medical Complex admitted 52,143 patients, earning Rs2.531 billion and Rs958 million, respectively. Hayatabad Medical Complex and Khyber Teaching Hospital Peshawar treated 49,554 and 43,849 patients and earned Rs2.056 billion and Rs1.153 billion, respectively.

However, the main beneficiary of the programme in monetary terms remained Peshawar Institute of Cardiology (PIC), which generated Rs3.413 billion through treatment of 27,810 patients.

Institute of Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicine (Irnum), Peshawar, treated 30,121 patients to earn an amount of Rs1.685 billion from the scheme while the rest of the hospitals, including district headquarters hospitals and medical teaching institutions, generated revenue in millions.

According to the report, most patients were admitted for medical illnesses, followed by nephrology, gynaecology, general surgery, oncology, urology orthopaedic, cardiology, ENT, ophthalmology, neurosurgery, paediatric, cardiac surgery and Paeds cardiology.

The report said that Rs7.661 billion was spent on treatment of cardiology patients, Rs3.421 billion on oncology, Rs2.984 billion on general surgery, Rs2.014 billion on neurosurgery, Rs2 billion on cardiac surgery, Rs1.461 billion on nephrology, Rs1.356 billion on paeds cardiology, Rs1.655 billion on urology and Rs1.624 billion on orthopaedic patients.

As far the number of districts where people availed free services on SCP is concerned, Peshawar remained atop with 111,226 admissions mainly because the provincial capital is home to famous hospitals and patients visit the city for tertiary care services. Swat stayed second with 105,231 hospitalisations, Mardan recorded 91,340 hospitalisations, Charsadda 68,054, Lower Dir 62,924, Swabi 57,628, Mansehra 53,310, Dir Upper 50,488 and Nowshera 48,048.

In most districts, more than 10,000 patients visited empanelled hospitals except a few where the number of patients remained low due to non-availability of hospitals that could meet the criteria set forth by the government. However, compared to 2024, the number of hospitals in remote districts has increased for SCP patients.

Authorities have been applying stricter criteria for registration of hospitals in central districts but for backward areas, they have been empanelling health facilities relatively with softer approach and authorise hospitals for procedures subject to availability of doctors.

For tertiary care, patients visit big hospitals while for secondary care, they can get treatment in local facilities, subject to availability of trained doctors, backed by nurses and other staff in addition to presence of blood bank, pharmacy stories, blood bank and operation theatres etc.

Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2026