PESHAWAR: The number of cochlear implants on Sehat Card Plus has been increasing due to good results in children before the attaining the age of five years, according to official data.
“Since January to June 2026, 250 organ transplants and implants have been carried out on Sehat Card Plus. These included 143 cochlear implants, 71 renal transplants, 22 liver transplants and 14 bone marrow transplants costing Rs654m,” said the official report.
On Sehat Card Plus (SCP), each of 10.6m families in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are entitled to avail free diagnostic and treatment services up to Rs1m per annum but for high cost treatments, like transplants and implants, the government has created reserve funds from which these procedures are carried out free of cost after approval granted by relevant committee.
The government pays through State Life Insurance Corporation to hospitals for treatment of patients and expenditure on one renal transplant in Rs1.788m, liver transplant Rs5.681m, bone marrow transplant Rs2.785m and cochlear implants Rs2.398 m, says the data.
Officials said that there were about 1000 people on waiting list for cochlear implants. However, they said, the number of children requiring cochlear implants had reached about 1,000 due to 100 per cent success rate of the procedure. Children are brought to hospitals mostly after one year when their parents realise that they cannot speak and hear, they said.
They said they had sent a request to government to double the amount for cochlear implants to end the backlog as majority of children on waiting list were between three to four years, the ideal age for the procedure.
The procedure of cochlear implant was conducted before five years of age for good results and if government keeps inflow of funds, those on waiting lists will get the services, they said.
The free health insurance programme started in February 2016 has benefitted a total of 5.577m patients at the cost of Rs153.163b including 6,56,923 patients from January 2026 to June 2026 on which Rs19.188b were spent, female beneficiaries being 3,59,654 while male 2,97,269.
So far, since the launching of the programme, 768 transplants and implants have been carried which included 343 renal transplants, 280 cochlear implants, 124 liver transplants and 21 bone marrow transplants. Total expense incurred by government on these procedures is Rs1.890b.
Officials said that the due to patients’ load they had requested the government to release more funds for these high-cost treatments, especially cochlear implants to help children who were unable to hear and speak.
Most patients, they said, cannot afford the cost and banked on the SCP. The government has increased the SCP’s budget from Rs35b in 2025-26 to Rs41b in 2026-27, they said. Besides cochlear implants, the waiting list for kidney transplants has also been increasing as the Institute of Kidney Diseases Hayatabad Medical Complex is doing only two transplants per day.
Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2026
