Six projects, big leap in Punjab healthcare

PUNJAB, the beating heart of Pakistan and home to over half its population, is writing a bold new chapter in public health, one that is already reaching millions. Under Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif, six flagship health initiatives have collectively extended services to more than 21 million patients in a remarkably compressed timeframe, a scale of outreach that demands serious attention from policymakers and global health observers alike. This transformation is firmly anchored in the global imperative of Universal Health Coverage (UHC), a cornerstone of the WHO’s Sustainable Development Goal 3 and the Regional Strategic Operational Plan 2025–2028. Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has made it her mission to ensure that Punjab’s vast population, over 50% of Pakistan’s total, receives the quality healthcare it deserves, driving measurable progress against longstanding indicators such as infant and maternal mortality that previously left unaddressed. At the heart of this strategy is the “Clinic on Wheels” program, a last-mile delivery model fully aligned with WHO’s vision of people-centred primary care. Mobile clinics have treated approximately 18.2 million patients, performed around seven million ultrasound procedures and immunised 1.2 million children. Field hospitals have registered 2.8 million patient visits, alongside over 448,000 laboratory tests and more than 170,000 diagnostic imaging examinations. Together, these achievements reflect a decisive and commendable shift from reactive hospital care toward proactive, community-based outreach that genuinely meets people where they live. Perhaps the most humane dimension of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif’s health agenda is the integration of home-based care for chronic and infectious diseases. Over 30,000 patients now receive essential medicines at their doorstep. More than 2,200 diabetic patients are supplied two months of insulin at a time, sparing them repeated and costly trips to distant facilities. Over