Healthcare on Wheels: Mobile Health Units Reaching Pakistan’s Last Mile

Access to healthcare remains a major challenge in many remote and underserved areas of Pakistan. For communities living in poverty, women facing mobility restrictions, and populations affected by climate shocks, reaching the nearest health facility often means traveling hours across deserts, rivers, mountains, or fragile border regions. To bridge this gap, the Indus Hospital & Health Network (IHHN), through its Community Health Directorate (CHD), has scaled up its Mobile Health Unit (MHU) program to bring primary healthcare directly to the people.

Mobile Health Units: Bringing Care to Communities

MHUs are fully equipped, transportable healthcare facilities designed to serve populations facing geographic, economic, or social barriers to healthcare. Each unit offers consultation space, essential medicines, basic diagnostics, maternal and child health services, vaccination support, and health education materials. Some MHUs function almost like mini field hospitals, with laboratory testing, antenatal and postnatal care, and emergency stabilization capacity. These units travel to remote villages, peri-urban settlements, mining sites, and disaster-affected areas, ensuring that healthcare reaches the patient, rather than expecting the patient to reach care.

Punjab: Delivering Services Across 20 Districts

In FY25, CHD MHUs in Punjab reached 20 districts, delivering 997,124 consultations and conducting 253,477 laboratory tests. In Okara, a family arrived at an MHU with their ailing son on a donkey cart, the only transport available. The team quickly diagnosed severe cardiac complications and coordinated with Rescue 1122 to transfer him to DHQ Okara for emergency care. “The MHU is a blessing from Allah. For people like us, with no money and no access to care, it is our only hope,” said Kausar Bibi, mother of the patient.

Balochistan: Health on Wheels for Hard-to-Reach Areas

Six MHUs, also known as “Health on Wheels (HoWs),” operated in geographically challenging areas of Balochistan with support from the provincial government and Reko Diq Mining Company (RDMC). These units treated 95,658 patients and facilitated 232 safe deliveries in FY25, offering antenatal/postnatal care, immunization, mental health screening, rapid diagnostics, and essential medicines at no cost.

Sindh: Serving Climate-Vulnerable Communities

In Sindh, two Mobile Medical Buses operate in Badin and Tharparkar, districts highly affected by poverty and climate stress. These units provide clinical, pharmacy, and diagnostic services on-site, reducing travel costs and treatment delays for vulnerable communities.

Mobile Healthcare for Industrial Workforces

CHD also extends MHUs to industrial and occupational health. In partnership with Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL), MHUs serve workers in 12 remote districts near exploration sites, providing 24,859 consultations in FY25. Similarly, RDMC-supported MHUs and fixed facilities in Chaghi District, Balochistan, treated 13,378 patients, serving mining site employees, contractors, and surrounding communities.

Integrated, System-Wide Impact

CHD’s MHUs are linked to referral pathways, digital record-keeping systems, disease surveillance mechanisms, and fixed facilities within IHHN, ensuring continuity of care. On average, each unit serves 146 patients daily, offering preventive health education, disease screening, immunization, mental health support, and maternal care. By combining mobility with integration into a broader health system, MHUs provide a scalable, quality-assured model for universal health access.

Transforming Healthcare Delivery

In remote districts of Punjab and Balochistan, MHUs have reduced delays in maternal care, strengthened early disease detection, and expanded access to free medicines and diagnostics. Far from being a temporary solution, mobile units have become strategic tools for health equity, demonstrating that healthcare is a right, not a privilege dictated by geography. With provincial partnerships and sustained support, IHHN’s Mobile Health Units are a lifeline for hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis.