KARACHI: The Sindh government has allocated Rs393.16 billion for the health sector for the financial year 2026-27.
In his budget speech in the Sindh Assembly on Wednesday, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said that the largest share of grants has been allocated to health institutions to ensure continued provision of free or highly subsidised treatment for cardiac diseases, kidney ailments, cancer treatment, maternal health and child care.
According to the budget documents, the government has increased the allocation for the Sindh Institute of Child Health and Neonatology (SICHN) from Rs6.68bn to Rs7.18bn.
An estimated Rs250.00 million each for the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) hospitals in Rahim Yar Khan, Gujjar Khan, Sargodha, D.l Khan, and Kot Adu have been proposed while additional grants have been proposed for SIUT, that is, Rs1bn for the establishment of Oncology Block Sukkur phase-I, Rs1bn for SIUT, Trust Mariyam Bashir Dawood Children Hospital, Rs1bn for Mehru-Nisa Energy Center and Rs2bn for SIUT Karachi in the next financial year.
The National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) is proposed to get Rs12bn, including a one-time grant of Rs1bn for the procurement of essential machinery and equipment.
The Sindh Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (SICVD) has been allocated Rs14bn.
The CM said that these institutions cater primarily to low-income households that cannot afford private healthcare.
In addition to its regular grant, the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) will receive additional grants, including Rs50m for free histopathology and immunohistochemistry services, Rs1bn for PAF-JPMC, and Rs2.18bn for the procurement of equipment and utilities for the new 12-storey emergency tower.
A total amount of Rs10bn is allocated for the Pir Syed Abdul Qadir Shah Jeelani Institute of Medical Sciences, Gambat. In addition, Rs1.8bn is allocated for gene therapy for cancer treatment at the facility.
The Sindh Integrated Emergency and Health Services (SIEHS) is allocated an amount of Rs5.218bn, while Rs5.7bn is allocated for Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Institute of Trauma.
Highlighting government progress during FY 2025-26, the CM said the new outpatient complex became operational at the NICVD with an investment of approximately Rs1.2bn and is currently serving around 46,230 patients every month while conducting nearly 40,500 diagnostic tests monthly.
The facility also saw the construction of a 100-bed emergency Block and a 300-capacity conference Hall and a dedicated Clinical Trial Unit.
The SICVD provided treatment to over 3.44m patients at an expenditure of approximately Rs13.3bn. The network performed 15,927 emergency angioplasties, 12,757 cardiac catheterisation procedures, 1,914 open-heart surgeries and more than 1.49m diagnostic procedures.
The chest pain unit network alone treated 432,999 patients, including 9,610 emergency heart attack cases, ensuring timely intervention and saving thousands of lives.
To further expand access, new chest pain units were established at Sanghar and Dadu, while advanced cardiac intervention facilities were introduced at Sukkur, Hyderabad and Tando Muhammad Khan.
“The SIUT operationalised a 250-bed children’s hospital, which is now approximately 80 per cent operational and has already provided more than 53,000 consultations. The government provided Rs1bn for this facility, which is expected to become fully operational during FY 2026-27.
“At SIUT Sukkur, more than 57,000 OPD consultations, 53,000 dialysis sessions, 28,000 surgeries and over 1.4 million laboratory tests were conducted during the year,” the chief minister said.
Likewise, he said, the JPMC had strengthened its position as one of Pakistan’s largest tertiary care hospitals.
During FY 2025-26, the JPMC provided healthcare services to approximately 2.58 million patients, including 617,436 emergency cases, while performing 38,487 major surgeries. The institution also remained a national leader in cancer treatment, managing more than 51,000 oncology patients, conducting 31,189 radiotherapy sessions and 16,915 chemotherapy sessions.
“A medical tower is being developed under the government of Sindh and Patients’ Aid Foundation partnership. Through this successful collaboration, JPMC’s capacity has increased from 1,100 beds in 2011 to 2,208 beds today,” he said.
The SICHN network, he said, had expanded from 790 beds to more than 1,120 beds and now provides specialised healthcare services across 12 districts of Sindh.
“More than 1.2 million patients received treatment through SICHN facilities during the year. Critical care capacity was significantly enhanced, with ventilators increasing from 280 to 480 and incubators from 276 to 421, making SICHN the largest paediatric critical care network in the country,” he said.
Published in Dawn, June 18th, 2026