Islamabad: The federal government’s Rs53.3 billion allocation for the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination (NHSR&C) for fiscal year 2026-27 reveals a familiar pattern in Pakistan’s healthcare spending as most of the money will be spent on salaries, operations and hospital infrastructure, while comparatively little has been earmarked for disease surveillance, outbreak preparedness, medicine regulation and national disease control programmes.
Budget documents show that of the ministry’s total allocation of Rs53.29 billion, Rs37.22 billion, or nearly 70 percent, has been allocated for current expenditure, leaving Rs16.06 billion for development projects. The current expenditure alone exceeds the entire development budget by more than Rs21 billion.
Hospital services account for the largest share of current spending, receiving Rs28.73 billion. In comparison, public health services have been allocated only Rs1.09 billion, while health administration receives Rs7.37 billion.
The development budget presents a similar picture.
The largest allocation, Rs3.06 billion, has been earmarked for the Prime Minister’s National Health Programme, followed by Rs2 billion for the Jinnah Medical Complex and Research Centre in Islamabad and Rs1.5 billion for procurement of equipment for the Islamabad Cancer Hospital.
Another Rs1 billion has been allocated for strengthening cardiology and other departments at the Federal Government Polyclinic Hospital. The expansion of stroke intervention and critical care facilities at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) will receive Rs500 million, while the King Salman Hospital project at Tarlai has been allocated another Rs500 million.
Together, these hospital and infrastructure projects account for the overwhelming share of major PSDP allocations.
By contrast, programmes dealing with some of Pakistan’s most serious public health threats receive comparatively modest funding.
The Common Management Unit responsible for tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and malaria control has been allocated Rs500 million despite Pakistan facing rising HIV infections, one of the world’s highest tuberculosis burdens and recurring malaria outbreaks.
The One Health Workforce Development and Coordination for Pandemic Readiness programme has received only Rs99.9 million. The initiative is intended to strengthen preparedness against emerging infectious diseases and improve coordination among human, animal and environmental health sectors.
Similarly, the Drug Control Section responsible for strengthening medicine regulation in Islamabad has been allocated Rs144 million, while implementation of the National Action Plan on Population has received Rs250 million.
The allocations come at a time when Pakistan continues to battle multiple public health challenges simultaneously.
The country carries the world’s largest hepatitis C burden, with an estimated 10 million infections. More than 34 million adults are living with diabetes, while cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death. HIV infections continue to rise, tuberculosis affects hundreds of thousands annually and climate-related health emergencies are becoming increasingly frequent.
Pakistan has also experienced repeated outbreaks and health emergencies in recent years, including Mpox, measles, dengue, heat-related illnesses and persistent polio detections, underscoring the importance of surveillance, preparedness and rapid response systems.
Health experts note that after the 18th Constitutional Amendment, most healthcare delivery functions shifted to provincial governments. The federal ministry’s principal responsibilities increasingly revolve around disease surveillance, outbreak response, health security, medicine regulation, international health reporting and coordination of national disease control programmes.
Yet these functions continue to receive a relatively small share of federal development spending compared to tertiary-care hospitals and infrastructure projects.
Budget documents further show that ongoing federal health schemes now carry throw-forward liabilities exceeding Rs121 billion, indicating that future governments will need to continue financing major infrastructure projects for several years.
Supporters of the allocations argue that Pakistan urgently needs specialised hospitals, cancer treatment facilities and advanced critical care services. Critics, however, contend that investing predominantly in bricks and mortar while allocating relatively modest resources to prevention, surveillance and disease control risks leaving the country vulnerable to the very outbreaks and health threats that federal institutions are expected to detect and contain.
The 2026-27 budget therefore highlights a continuing policy dilemma in Pakistan’s health sector: while new hospitals remain politically visible and publicly popular, the less visible functions of disease surveillance, preparedness, regulation and prevention continue to receive only a small fraction of federal health spending despite their growing importance for national health security.
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