Telemedicine has significantly grown in Pakistan. When two young female doctors launched Sehat Kahani in 2017, they imagined a Pakistan where geography, gender norms, and poverty wouldn’t mean the difference between getting care and going without it. What started as a small telemedicine pilot has become one of the country’s most influential digital-health movements, connecting patients in remote towns and crowded cities to qualified clinicians, enabling sidelined women doctors to practice.
Meeting Pakistan’s biggest health challenges with technology
Pakistan faces a classic two-sided health problem: millions of people live far from reliable primary care, while many trained female physicians are underemployed due to social and logistical barriers. Sehat Kahani’s core idea attacks both problems at once: a digital platform that routes patients to a vetted network of doctors and creates telemedicine “e-clinics” that act as local touchpoints for consultation, diagnostics, and follow-up care. In this way, the female doctors who can not go out to work can work sitting from home. Sehat Kahani played a vital role in connecting people who had issues in reaching to quality healthcare with doctors who had barriers to go out and work.
Scale, credibility and measurable impact
Sehat Kahani’s growth has been rapid and evidence-based. The organization reports having crossed significant user and consultation milestones, earning profiles in regional lists and international forums that see it as credible proof-of-concept for low-cost telehealth in LMICs. At various points in its public reporting, the platform has cited over a million users and millions of consultations, milestones that reflect both organic demand for remote care and the effectiveness of partnerships with corporates, NGOs, and insurers.
Beyond raw numbers, Sehat Kahani has invested in a hybrid model: a central app plus physical e-clinics. These e-clinics, distributed across districts, multiply the impact of remote providers by offering internet-enabled booths, diagnostic support, and someone on-site to help patients use teleconsultation tools, which is crucial in areas where digital literacy or device access can be limiting.
Designing for cultural and gender realities
One of Sehat Kahani’s most important design choices is centering women clinicians. In Pakistan, social expectations often constrain where and how female doctors practice; telemedicine gives them a way to contribute professionally while managing household responsibilities or mobility limits. This not only increases the supply of qualified clinicians but also changes patient behavior; many women in conservative or rural communities prefer women physicians and are more likely to seek care when female doctors are readily available online. In rural areas, people are not open minded and there is a conservation mind set about women interacting with male doctors even online.
Partnerships that expand reach and lower cost barriers
Sehat Kahani’s model leans heavily on partnerships to scale sustainably. Through collaborations with corporations (to provide corporate-care packages), insurers (for covered tele-OPD services), NGOs, and consumer brands (for sponsored helplines and health awareness campaigns), the platform has been able to extend services to employee populations, vulnerable groups and large customer bases without asking the end user to shoulder the whole cost. These partnerships have helped them go into organisations on a corporate level to cater Corporate female patients.
Clinical quality and integration with the health system
Telemedicine faces valid questions about clinical quality, follow-up, and continuity of care. Sehat Kahani has addressed these by building clinical protocols, referral pathways, and training for e-clinic staff. It has also been involved in research collaborations and evaluations that show telehealth when combined with basic diagnostics and clear triage rules can safely manage large volumes of primary care and escalate cases that need in-person assessment. Peer-reviewed studies and program analyses have cited Sehat Kahani’s e-clinics as effective in delivering high-quality teleconsultations to underserved communities.
Mental health and chronic disease
Initially focused on general consults and maternal-child care, Sehat Kahani has expanded into areas like mental health, chronic disease management, and corporate wellness. Mental-health access has been a priority especially given the stigma and scarcity of in-person psychiatric services and the platform has run projects integrating mental-health screening into primary teleconsultations and training local providers on referral and follow-up. Many female freelancers at Work Hall use Sehat Kahani as a service for telehealth and e-clinic utilisation.
Leave a Reply