Islamabad hosts best healthcare facilities in Pakistan: survey

A recent survey conducted by the medical profession in Pakistan examined the best healthcare facilities in the country and determined that the federal capital, Islamabad, is the leading provider of healthcare services, surpassing other regions.

Islamabad received a score of 63.9 points, indicating it offers more than half of the necessary treatment opportunities, according to the report from the Service Coverage Index (SCI), published by Universal Health Care.

Following Islamabad, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa scored 55.5 and 51 points, respectively. Sindh received 50.7 points, while Balochistan scored 38.4 points in terms of healthcare service provision.

At the district level, over 45 districts scored below 40 points, while 39 districts fell within the range of 40 to 49 points, and 57 districts scored between 50 and 59 points.

The report reveals that only 11 districts in the country have achieved a UHC SCI score of 60 or higher, highlighting the significant gap in the country's efforts to reach a score of 80 or above on the UHC SCI scale by 2030.

These findings were concluded by the Ministry of National Health Services with assistance from the UK’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the Evidence for Health (E4H) program.

Despite not achieving the targeted score, national healthcare services showed improvement in the UHC-SCI, increasing from a score of 40 in 2015 to 53.9 in 2023.