Free Clinic on Wheels and Field Hospitals in Punjab: What You Get and How to Find the Van

Punjab runs free mobile clinics called Clinic on Wheels, and 32 small Field Hospitals in the first phase, for villages and slums far from a hospital. You need no card and no registration. You walk in when the van or unit arrives, and the government says consultations, tests and medicines are free.

The hard part is not the treatment. It is knowing when and where the van will be. The Punjab government says schedules come from district health offices and official announcements, so that is where this guide sends you.

We read the government's own pages on Clinic on Wheels, Field Hospitals and Clinic on Boats on 11 October 2026. Some figures on those pages are wide ranges or estimates, and we mark them as the government's own.

Clinic on Wheels brings a free doctor to your area

Clinic on Wheels is a fleet of mobile medical vans sent to urban slums, rural areas and other places with weak health services. The government page lists free basic consultations, tests including ultrasound in the better equipped vans, and medicines.

The services include care before and after birth, family planning and immunisation. The page says the vans have raised vaccination coverage in underserved areas. It does not say how many people each van sees per day.

It gives the fleet size as a wide range, from 244 to over 1,000 vans, including specially equipped ones. That is the government's own wording, and we could not narrow it. So do not assume a van serves your village. Ask.

Field Hospitals are small units in all 36 districts

Field Hospitals, also called Mini Hospitals, are mobile and semi-permanent health units placed in underserved communities across Punjab's 36 districts. They are a sister programme to Clinic on Wheels, according to the government page.

The first phase opened 32 units: 21 mobile healthcare units and 11 small field hospitals, which are mobile diagnostic units. The page lists OPD (outpatient) services, tests, a pharmacy, vaccination, care for mothers and children, and emergency care. It expects 1.5 million rural patients a year to benefit.

You do not apply, but you do need to find the schedule

Neither programme has an application. The government pages say residents simply visit the van or the unit when it arrives. For the van, check with your district health office or official announcements for its dates and stops. For Field Hospitals, the page points to local government and health department announcements, and to health.punjab.gov.pk.

1. Ask your local Basic Health Unit or Rural Health Centre whether a van or field hospital serves your union council.
2. Phone or visit the district health office and ask for the schedule and the location.
3. Check the health department website, health.punjab.gov.pk, for notices.
4. Go on the day with your CNIC or the child's B-Form, and any old prescriptions or reports.
5. Ask the staff when the van will return, so you can plan follow-ups.

The pages we read give no phone number for van schedules, so we have not listed one. If a stranger offers to "book a place" for a fee, do not pay. The pages describe walk-in care.

What the mobile units cannot do

These are first-line units. They are built for check-ups, common illness, tests and vaccines, not for surgery or long stays. A serious case still goes to a tehsil or district hospital. The page for Field Hospitals says emergency care is offered, but the unit's size limits what it can do.

A child with a heart condition, for example, needs a specialist route. Free child heart surgery in Punjab starts with a referral from a hospital. And for long-term conditions such as sugar, free diabetes care in Punjab uses a different clinic network.

Clinic on Boats serves flood-hit river communities

Clinic on Boats is a third mobile service, started during the September 2025 floods, which the government says affected over 3.36 million people. Boats carried clinics to riverine villages cut off by water, working alongside the vans.

The government page says close to 1,000 mobile clinics and medical camps were deployed in the flood response, together with over 400 medical camps and 385 veterinary camps. It lists check-ups, vitamins for pregnant women, child care and routine newborn vaccines. There is no application, since services were directed by district authorities according to need.

If you live by the river and want to know whether the boats are ready for the next flood, ask your district administration. For a wider list of programmes, the Maryam Nawaz Health Clinic list is a fixed-location option, and Punjab's free health programmes beyond the Sehat Card sets out the rest.

Common questions

Is Clinic on Wheels free?

Yes. The government page lists free consultations, tests and medicines.

Do I need a card to use a Field Hospital?

No. The government page says no special card or registration is needed for basic services.

How do I find out when the van is coming?

Ask your district health office or check official announcements. The pages we read give no single schedule or phone number.

How many Clinic on Wheels vans are there?

The government page gives a range of 244 to over 1,000. We could not confirm one exact number.

Do they treat pregnant women?

Yes. Both programmes list care for mothers, including care before and after birth, and immunisation.

Can they do surgery?

No evidence on the pages that they do. They are first-line units, and serious cases go on to a hospital.

How we verified this

What we checked, where we read it, and what we could not confirm.

We checked this on 11 October 2026. We read the Punjab Directorate General of Public Relations pages on Clinic on Wheels, Field Hospitals and Clinic on Boats, which give the services, the access rules, the 32-unit first phase and the flood figures. We could not find an official van schedule or a helpline for it. The fleet size is the government's range and could not be narrowed. We did not visit a van or unit.