Before you start

Private health insurance, arranged before arrival
Passport and visa for hospital registration
Vaccination records, including for school entry
Air purifiers and fitted masks before November

Step-by-step

1
Buy insurance before you arrive
Expatriate policies underwrite at purchase, so conditions declared later become exclusions. International cover matters mainly for medical evacuation — for a small number of serious diagnoses the realistic plan involves Dubai, Bangkok or Europe.
OnlineWho: YouBefore arrival
2
Register with a private hospital near where you live
Shaukat Khanum, Doctors Hospital, Hameed Latif, National Hospital and the Aga Khan network's Lahore facilities are the names people use. Register before you need to and know which one is fifteen minutes from your house, because Lahore traffic makes proximity beat reputation in an emergency.
In personWho: YouMonth 1
3
Programme Rescue 1122 and Edhi 115
The Punjab Emergency Service runs ambulance, fire and rescue on 1122 across all 36 districts of Punjab with a published average response under eight minutes — it is the best-run emergency service in Pakistan. Edhi's charitable ambulances on 115 are the other number to hold.
In personWho: You
4
Prepare for smog season in October, not December
Buy HEPA air purifiers sized for the bedrooms and your work room, and properly fitted respirator masks rather than surgical ones. Prices rise and stock disappears once the season starts and the news coverage begins. This is a genuine annual pattern, not a precaution.
OnlineWho: YouBy October
5
Get a respiratory baseline if you have any history
Anyone with asthma, COPD or a child with a reactive airway should see a pulmonologist on arrival rather than in the middle of a smog episode. Having a management plan and a stocked inhaler before November is the difference between a bad week and an emergency department visit.
In personWho: You
6
Use private dentistry and diagnostics out of pocket
Private dental care, optometry and imaging in Lahore are good and inexpensive by international standards. Many residents self-fund routine care and insure only for the serious end, which is a rational way to structure it here.
In personWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Insurance policy and card
Passport and visa
Vaccination records
Prior respiratory records and prescriptions
Employer group scheme details, if applicable

Things most newcomers don’t know

Lahore's winter air is a foreseeable annual health event with a government policy response attached.

Recent winters have seen the air quality index in Lahore exceed 1,000, with the Punjab government closing schools across multiple divisions, imposing partial work-from-home requirements, and restricting access to parks and public spaces. Hospitals report large increases in respiratory presentations. This is not background urban pollution — it is a seasonal condition that reshapes daily life for weeks. Budget for purifiers, plan indoor exercise, and treat November to January as structurally different.

Source: Punjab government advisories; press reporting

Pakistan's health card schemes do not cover foreign nationals, and were never uniform anyway.

The Sehat Sahulat programme is provincially implemented for Pakistani citizens and has been rolled out furthest in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab, only partially elsewhere. Foreign residents do not qualify for the public scheme at all. Descriptions of Pakistan as having universal health coverage describe an ambition, and even for citizens the entitlement varies by province.

Source: Sehat Sahulat Programme

Rescue 1122 in Punjab is the full service, and that is not true everywhere in Pakistan.

The Punjab Emergency Service was created under the Punjab Emergency Service Act 2006 and runs emergency ambulance, fire and rescue on one number across all 36 Punjab districts, with a published average response time under eight minutes and technical assistance provided to other provinces. Other provinces replicated the number with varying scope and maturity. Assuming 1122 means the same thing in every Pakistani city is exactly the kind of generalisation that fails at the moment it matters.

Source: Punjab Emergency Service

Shaukat Khanum changes the calculus for one specific set of diagnoses.

Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre is Pakistan's leading oncology institution, with a substantial charitable treatment model and a research arm. For cancer specifically, Lahore offers a standard of care that would otherwise mean leaving the country. That is a narrow but genuinely significant advantage over most Pakistani cities and it is worth knowing before you need it.

Source: community-reported; hospital publications

Common mistakes to avoid

Arriving in November without air purifiers already bought.
Assuming a government health card scheme covers foreign residents — it does not.
Not establishing a respiratory management plan before smog season if you or a child has asthma.
Knowing only one hospital, on the wrong side of the city.
Buying insurance after arrival and finding a newly declared condition excluded.

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