Before you start

Private health insurance with evacuation cover, arranged before arrival
Passport and visa, or accreditation documents, for hospital registration
Vaccination records, including for school entry
Your employer's group scheme details, where one exists

Step-by-step

1
Buy insurance with medical evacuation before you arrive
Expatriate policies underwrite at purchase, so conditions declared afterwards become exclusions. Evacuation cover matters more in Islamabad than in Karachi because the tertiary options are thinner — for some diagnoses the plan is Dubai, Bangkok or Europe, and evacuation cover is what makes that a plan rather than an emergency fundraiser.
OnlineWho: YouBefore arrival
2
Register at Shifa International and know your nearest alternative
Shifa in H-8 is the main private tertiary hospital; PIMS in G-8 is the large public teaching hospital with a good emergency department; Kulsum International in Blue Area and Maroof in F-10 are the other names in regular use. Register before you need to and identify which is closest to home.
In personWho: YouMonth 1
3
Understand what 1122 is in Islamabad specifically
The number is national, the service behind it is not. Punjab's Rescue 1122 is a mature, statutorily established province-wide emergency service. Islamabad's is run through the municipal and capital development bodies and is newer and smaller, with additional rescue stations being built out. It works — but do not assume the Punjab standard, and hold Edhi's 115 as a parallel.
In personWho: You
4
Programme Edhi 115 alongside 1122
The Edhi Foundation's charitable ambulance network operates nationwide on 115, free of charge. In practice residents of every Pakistani city keep both numbers, because which one reaches you first is not predictable.
In personWho: You
5
Get a check-up and any prescriptions transferred early
Pharmacy availability in Islamabad is good but brand names differ from Europe and the US, and some specific formulations are simply not imported. Bring a generic-name prescription list and get a local doctor to map it in your first month rather than during a shortage.
In personWho: You
6
Use the hills, and take the winter inversion seriously
Islamabad's air is genuinely the best of the three cities and Margalla Hills National Park starts inside the city, which makes an outdoor life realistic here in a way it is not in Lahore. Winter inversions and haze drifting up from the Punjab plain still push readings into unhealthy ranges for stretches — a bedroom purifier is sensible, but the seasonal shutdown Lahore requires is not.
In personWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Insurance policy and card, with evacuation cover confirmed
Passport and visa, or accreditation documents
Vaccination records
Generic-name prescription list for any ongoing medication
Employer group scheme details

Things most newcomers don’t know

1122 does not mean the same service in every Pakistani city, and Islamabad is one of the places it differs.

Punjab's Rescue 1122 was created under the Punjab Emergency Service Act 2006, runs ambulance, fire and rescue across all 36 Punjab districts, and publishes an average response time under eight minutes. Islamabad's emergency and fire service operates on the same number but is administered through the capital's municipal and development bodies, is newer, and is still expanding — the CDA has been building additional rescue stations in the outer sectors. It works, but assuming the Punjab standard is exactly the kind of generalisation that fails when it matters. Hold Edhi's 115 as a second option.

Source: Punjab Emergency Service; CDA reporting

Evacuation cover is worth more in Islamabad than in Karachi.

Karachi has Aga Khan University Hospital, which for many serious conditions makes leaving the country unnecessary. Islamabad's private tertiary provision is good but thinner, and for a small set of complex diagnoses the realistic treatment plan involves Dubai, Bangkok or Europe. That makes medical evacuation cover a substantive part of the policy rather than a line item — check the limit, check whether it covers a companion, and check whether it requires the insurer's prior authorisation.

Source: community-reported

Public health card schemes do not cover foreign nationals anywhere in Pakistan.

The Sehat Sahulat programme is a provincially implemented scheme for Pakistani citizens, rolled out furthest in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab. Foreign residents do not qualify. Descriptions of Pakistan as having universal health coverage describe an ambition, and one that in any case has never extended to foreign nationals. Private insurance is the only realistic answer.

Source: Sehat Sahulat Programme

Bring a generic-name prescription list, not brand names.

Pakistani pharmacies are well stocked and inexpensive, but brand names differ substantially from European and North American ones and some specific formulations and delivery systems are not imported at all. A list written by generic name and dose lets a local doctor map your medications in one appointment. Arriving with a brand-name list and a two-week supply is how people discover in week three that their particular combination is unavailable.

Source: community-reported

Common mistakes to avoid

Buying insurance without checking the medical evacuation limit and its conditions.
Assuming Islamabad's 1122 is the Punjab Emergency Service — it is a different, newer organisation.
Expecting a public health card scheme to cover you as a foreign national.
Arriving with brand-name prescriptions and no generic equivalents.
Knowing only one hospital when the city has several good ones close together.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.