A Sehat Card balance check tells you how much of your family’s yearly hospital cover is left. In Punjab, as of September 2026, there is no SMS code, app or website where you can do this yourself. This guide explains what you can check, the two reliable ways to ask, and how the yearly limit works.
Punjab’s Sehat Card is the Health Insurance Program, run by the Punjab Health Initiative Management Company (PHIMC). For the full picture, see our main Sehat Card guide.
Can you do a Sehat Card balance check yourself?
Not in Punjab, as far as we could confirm. PHIMC’s official FAQ explains coverage, limits and complaints, but it does not list any SMS code, app or website for checking your balance.
A few things are often mistaken for a Punjab balance check:
| What people try | Is it for Punjab’s program? |
|---|---|
| SMS to 8500 | No. It is listed on the federal Sehat Sahulat website |
| SMS to 9780 | No. It is Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Sehat Card Plus code |
| sehatsahulat.com.pk | No. It is KP’s Sehat Card Plus website |
| Punjab Health Connect | No. It brings overseas specialist doctors to Punjab’s public hospitals |
| Qaumi Sehat Card app | Old. This Punjab government app was last updated in February 2023 |
Punjab Health Connect appears in the menu on PHIMC’s website, which is why people try it. Its own website describes a programme for overseas Pakistani and foreign specialist doctors to serve in public hospitals. It has no balance check for patients.
The Qaumi Sehat Card app on Google Play was made by the Punjab health department with PITB for the earlier version of the scheme, under the old name. It has not been updated since February 2023, so do not rely on it for today’s rules.
The two reliable ways to check your balance
1. The Hospital Facilitation Officer (HFO)
Every empanelled hospital has an HFO or a program helpdesk. PHIMC’s FAQ says the HFO guides you through admission and checks your CNIC. That makes the HFO the right person to ask how much cover your family has left before a planned admission. If the HFO cannot tell you, call the helpline.
2. The PHIMC helpline
- 0800-07542, open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
- 0333-6756390 (also on WhatsApp), 042-99066000 and 042-99066001, Monday to Saturday, 8am to 11pm
- Email: info@phimc.punjab.gov.pk
Have these ready when you call or ask:
- Your CNIC number, and the CNIC or B-Form of the family member who needs treatment
- The name of the hospital and the treatment planned
- The dates of any earlier admissions this year
How your Sehat Card limit works
As of September 2026, PHIMC’s FAQ gives these yearly limits for each family:
| Type of care | Limit per family per year |
|---|---|
| Secondary care | PKR 60,000 |
| Priority care | PKR 400,000 |
| Special cases | Can be extended to PKR 1,000,000 |
The FAQ lists these as two separate amounts. Secondary care covers ordinary treatment that needs a hospital admission. Priority care is for serious, high-cost conditions. The Urdu FAQ lists heart disease, diabetes complications that need admission, accident injuries and burns, complications of chronic diseases such as hepatitis B and C, neurosurgery and thalassemia.
Key points:
- The limit is per family, shared by husband, wife and unmarried children. There is no limit on family size.
- Only admissions use the limit. OPD visits are not covered at all.
- Medicines and tests count only when you are admitted. One day before your stay and up to five days after it are also covered.
- Unused cover has no cash value. You cannot take it as money.
What happens when the limit runs out
PHIMC’s FAQ is clear on two points:
- “If admitted and your limit ends, ongoing treatment will continue until recovery.”
- “Life-threatening conditions will also be covered even after the limit is exhausted.”
For a new, planned admission after your limit is used, ask the HFO or the helpline what you can do. The FAQ says cover can be extended to PKR 1,000,000 in special cases.
Your balance is not the same as free treatment
Having cover left does not mean everything is free. PHIMC’s FAQ says cancer, ICU, CCU, NICU, medical cases, thalassemia and emergencies are free at empanelled private hospitals. For other conditions, the program pays 50% and your family pays 50%.
So before a planned admission, ask the HFO two separate questions:
- How much of our family’s limit is left?
- Is this treatment free, or will we pay 50%? If it is 50%, roughly how much will we pay?
Ask for the estimate in writing, and keep every bill.
Check your eligibility first
A balance only matters if you are eligible. PHIMC’s FAQ says all permanent residents of Punjab are eligible, and the program takes family data from NADRA.
- Marked ineligible? Visit your nearest NADRA office to update your family data, then call 0800-07542. Our NADRA FRC guide explains the family record.
- Family member missing? Update your record with NADRA. A newborn born in an empanelled hospital is added automatically. For other babies, and for children under 18, give the Form-B at the hospital helpdesk. Our birth certificate guide explains how to register a birth.
If you live in Islamabad, AJK or Gilgit-Baltistan
You are covered by the federal programme, not Punjab’s. It was relaunched on 16 January 2026 with cover of up to Rs 720,000 per family per year, Dawn reported. Its helpline is 0800-09009.
The federal programme has had balance tools. In October 2023, the federal health ministry and NADRA launched the Mera Sehat Card app for residents of Islamabad, AJK, Gilgit-Baltistan and Tharparkar, and said users could check their available benefits and balance. State Life’s official Sehat Sahulat Application on Google Play also says it shows the available balance on your card or CNIC, for families in the federal government’s health insurance programmes.
These tools were built for the federal programme. We could not confirm that they show balances for Punjab’s program. If you live in Punjab, rely on the HFO and 0800-07542.
Stay safe
- Checking your balance is free. Nobody should charge you for it.
- Nobody can increase or recharge your limit for money.
- Never share an OTP with a caller who says they are from the Sehat Card.
- For Punjab, trust only phimc.punjab.gov.pk and 0800-07542.
Report fraud on the Pakistan Citizen’s Portal.
Contact
- Official page: phimc.punjab.gov.pk/node/1263
- Helpline (24/7): 0800-07542
- Email (including complaints): info@phimc.punjab.gov.pk
Related support
- Sehat Card, the full guide to Punjab’s Health Insurance Program
- Sehat Card hospital list, where the card works
- NADRA CNIC, to renew or correct your CNIC
- Ba-Himmat Buzurg Program, PSPA’s pension for poor elderly people; check with PSPA (1221) whether new names are being added
To see which Punjab and federal programs your household may qualify for, try our free eligibility checker.
GoPunjab is an independent information website. We are not PHIMC, NADRA or any insurance company, and we cannot see or change your balance. We only explain how the official program works so you know who to ask.