ISLAMABAD – Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed the government to bear 100 per cent of treatment costs for patients at the Pakistan-China Friendship Hospital, ensuring that no one is deprived of medical care because of financial constraints. Inaugurating the revived 182-bed facility on Thursday, the prime minister stressed that public healthcare institutions must serve the people and provide quality medical services without placing a financial burden on patients.
The prime minister’s directive places free treatment at the centre of the hospital’s public service mission, offering relief to patients and families who struggle to afford medical expenses. Under the public-private partnership arrangement, the Indus Hospital and Health Network (IHHN) will manage the facility, while the government will bear the cost of patients’ treatment.
The prime minister also ordered a third-party performance audit to ensure transparency, accountability and high standards of healthcare delivery. He said public resources and medical infrastructure must be utilised effectively for the welfare of citizens, with the quality of services and institutional performance remaining key priorities.
Recalling the hospital’s history, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said China had gifted the facility to Pakistan during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it remained non-operational for years after the pandemic ended. He said he took immediate notice after reading a newspaper report about the hospital’s prolonged closure and directed Federal Minister for Health Syed Mustafa Kamal to take steps to restore the facility.
Expressing regret over the hospital’s years of inactivity, the prime minister apologised to the Chinese ambassador and the Chinese people, acknowledging that an important facility provided through China’s support had not been put to effective use. He stressed the need to ensure that the hospital now fulfils its intended purpose by providing healthcare services to the public.
The Pakistan-China Friendship Hospital has a capacity of 182 beds, including 50 intensive care unit (ICU) beds. The facility is expected to serve patients from Islamabad and Rawalpindi, as well as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of the country. Its restoration is expected to expand access to medical services and help ease pressure on other healthcare facilities.
Federal Minister for Health Syed Mustafa Kamal, speaking at the ceremony, highlighted other healthcare initiatives, including a 200-bed cancer hospital at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), which he said was expected to become operational next year. The project is aimed at expanding treatment options for cancer patients.
Chinese Ambassador Jiang Zaidong welcomed the hospital’s renaming as the Pakistan-China Friendship Hospital and appreciated its transformation from an isolation facility into a general hospital. He acknowledged Pakistan’s efforts to improve public welfare and expressed the desire to further strengthen bilateral cooperation, particularly through the second phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Chief Executive Officer of the Indus Hospital and Health Network, Dr Abdul Bari Khan, said the network operates 15 hospitals, 140 primary healthcare clinics, four blood centres and four rehabilitation centres across Pakistan, serving approximately 700,000 patients every month.
He said the organisation’s annual budget had grown from Rs1 billion in its first year to Rs68 billion in the current year, with around 70 per cent of its funding raised within Pakistan. He also announced plans to establish a blood centre in Islamabad.
The hospital was originally constructed in 2020 in just 40 days by the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO), in collaboration with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the National Institute of Health (NIH), to support the country’s response to COVID-19. China provided a grant of $4 million for the project, while the total construction cost was reported at approximately Rs980 million.
Although initially established as an isolation facility during the pandemic, the hospital remained inactive for an extended period before being restored as a general hospital. Its new name recognises China’s financial support and the longstanding friendship between the two countries.
The revival of the Pakistan-China Friendship Hospital, coupled with the prime minister’s directive for fully government-funded treatment, marks an important step towards making healthcare more accessible. The initiative aims to reduce the financial burden on patients, improve access to medical services and ensure that people can seek treatment without the fear of unaffordable costs.
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