Get Free Heart Surgery for Your Child in Punjab: Maryam Ki Masihaai, Who Qualifies and How to Register
Punjab's Maryam Ki Masihaai covers free heart surgery for children born with heart disease. See who qualifies, the 8 cities with centres and how to register.
Punjab pays for heart surgery for children with a treatable congenital heart disease, whatever the family's income. You get in through a referral from a government hospital or a children's heart centre, which registers the child in a central system. The programme is called Maryam Ki Masihaai.
A heart hole or a blocked valve in a baby can cost a family years of savings, and for many it used to mean a wait of a year or more. The Punjab government says this programme was built to end that wait. It has been running since 17 September 2024.
We read the Punjab government's initiative page on the programme and two official notes about it on 11 October 2026. We could not find a dedicated public helpline, so the route below is the one the government describes: a referral, then registration at the hospital.
The programme covers evaluation, surgery and follow-up
The Chief Minister's Children Heart Surgery Programme gives free evaluation, surgery, care after the operation and follow-up visits for children with congenital heart disease. Congenital means the child was born with the problem. The government page says there are no income barriers.
It reports over 10,331 successful surgeries so far. Early on, the programme was briefed as treating 530 patients in government and private panel hospitals, with about 4,500 sick children referred, so the scale has grown a great deal. Treat the larger figure as the government's own count, which we cannot check independently.
The same page says children from other provinces, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, Balochistan and Sindh, have also been treated. So a family outside Punjab is not shut out.
Any child with a treatable heart condition qualifies
There is one test: a diagnosis of a treatable congenital heart condition. Access is based on medical need, not on the family's income or on a card. You do not need a Sehat Card, and there is no age limit stated on the pages we read.
That last point deserves care. The pages we read do not state an upper age. If your child is older, ask the hospital's cardiology department directly whether they fit the programme.
| Question | What the government page says |
|---|---|
| Who qualifies | Children with a treatable congenital heart condition |
| Income limit | None, access is by medical need |
| What is covered | Evaluation, surgery, post-operative care, follow-ups |
| Where you register | Government hospitals, paediatric departments, registration desks |
| Children from other provinces | Treated, including from KP, Sindh and Balochistan |
Where the surgery is done
The first phase used six hospitals: the Punjab Institute of Cardiology and the Children's Hospital in Lahore, plus centres in Multan, Faisalabad and Rawalpindi. The government page says it later widened to Wazirabad, Dera Ghazi Khan, Bahawalpur and Sargodha.
An early government note also named private hospitals on the panel: four in Lahore, three in Multan and one in Islamabad. We could not confirm that list is still current, so do not assume a private hospital will admit your child for free without a referral letter.
For Lahore, the Children's Hospital Lahore OPD and emergency numbers are a practical starting point, since the hospital is one of the first centres on the programme.
How to get your child into the programme
Go to a government hospital's paediatric department or a participating heart centre with the child's records. The doctor confirms the heart condition, and the hospital registers the child in the central system. Each registered child gets a personal card, according to the technology board that built the system.
- Take the child to the nearest government hospital, or straight to a participating centre.
- Carry every past report: echo, ECG, X-ray and any prescriptions.
- Ask the paediatric department to refer the child to the programme.
- Let the hospital enter the child in the central database, which sets the surgery order.
- Keep the card and report back for every follow-up visit.
The government page also says you can go direct to a participating facility. And the health department website, health.punjab.gov.pk, is the place it points to for more information.
What to watch for and where else to look
The programme is described as free, so no payment should buy a place. If someone asks for a fee, a gift or a "quick slot" payment, do not pay, and report it to the hospital's medical superintendent. The government page describes the care as completely free.
Waiting times are not published. The programme says its monitoring dashboard is in real time, but that dashboard is for the government, so ask the hospital for your child's expected date in writing.
Adults and families outside Punjab have other options, such as free heart treatment at NICVD in Karachi. And for a wider view of what the province pays for, Punjab's free health programmes beyond the Sehat Card lists the rest.
Common questions
Is child heart surgery in Punjab really free?
Yes. The government page says evaluation, surgery, care after the operation and follow-ups are all free, with no income test.
Do I need a Sehat Card?
No. The page says access depends on medical need and a diagnosis, not on a card or the family's finances.
Can a child from Sindh or KP get surgery?
Yes. The government page says children from KP, AJK, Gilgit-Baltistan, Balochistan and Sindh have been treated.
Where do I register?
At a government hospital or paediatric department, which refers the child, or directly at a participating heart centre.
Is there a helpline?
We could not find a dedicated public helpline. The government page tells you to contact the nearest government hospital or visit health.punjab.gov.pk.
How many children has it helped?
The government page reports over 10,331 successful surgeries. That is the government's own count.
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 page on the Child Heart Surgery Programme, which gives the surgery count, the hospitals, eligibility and access. We read a Punjab government note on the early progress of the programme, for the panel hospitals and the referral numbers at that time, and the Punjab Information Technology Board's note of 17 September 2024 on the launch and the central registration system. We could not confirm a helpline, the current waiting time or the present panel list. We did not contact a hospital.
About the author
Senior Writer, Public Services and Technology
Shahid joined us in 2024 as an author. He is a senior contributor to Pakistan's leading technology websites. He writes detailed articles, mostly covering his expertise in the latest tech, mobiles, apps, gadgets, and step-by-step guides. His ideology is to help people understand the latest trends and explain complex methods through very easy-to-understand guides.
