How to raise money for medical treatment in Pakistan

First, ask the hospital what it already covers

The big teaching hospitals fund a great deal of care themselves, and a fundraiser should cover what remains, not what the hospital would have paid anyway.

• Aga Khan University Hospital runs a Patient Welfare Programme; its own page reports Rs 719 crore of assistance to roughly 1.5 million patients in 2024 (AKUH welfare programme).
• Indus Hospital’s welfare officers inquire into each patient’s circumstances and a Shariah committee reviews Zakat eligibility case by case (Indus Hospital: zakat utilisation).
• Ask the social welfare or patient welfare desk of your hospital, whichever it is, for a written statement of what it will cover and what it will not. That letter becomes the strongest document on your page.

The documents that make a medical appeal believable

• A doctor’s letter or hospital estimate naming the condition, the treatment and the cost, on hospital paper.
• The cost breakdown: procedure, medicines, tests, stay, travel. Donors give to numbers they can picture.
• The patient’s consent, and their name and city. Anonymous medical appeals do not travel.
• Photos of the documents with identity numbers covered. Never publish a CNIC number, a bank account number or a phone number in the story.

Let the money go to the hospital, and say so

Transparent Hands, which has published audited accounts for a decade, advises donors that the safest model is one where funds go directly to the hospital rather than through the patient’s personal account (Transparent Hands donor guide). You can do the same on GoFundMeNow by naming the hospital’s bank account in your withdrawal request. Say on the page that you will, and then post the receipt.

A sample medical appeal

"Bilal (9, Hyderabad) was diagnosed with a hole in the heart in June. The paediatric cardiology unit has scheduled surgery for 20 October; the estimate on hospital paper is Rs 420,000, of which the hospital’s welfare fund covers Rs 150,000. We need Rs 270,000. His father drives a rickshaw and is the only earner. Every rupee raised here will be paid to the hospital account, and I will post the receipt and a photo after the surgery. If we raise more, the extra will pay for follow-up visits."

Roman Urdu: "Bilal (9 saal, Hyderabad) ke dil mein suraakh hai. Operation 20 October ko hai; hospital ka estimate Rs 420,000 hai jis mein se hospital ka welfare fund Rs 150,000 de raha hai. Humein Rs 270,000 chahiye. Yeh raqam seedhi hospital ke account mein jayegi aur main rasid yahan lagaunga."

What to do after it goes live

• Update on every event: admission, surgery done, bill paid, discharge. A page with three updates raises more than a page with none, because it looks alive and honest.
• Answer every comment, including the awkward ones. A question about the estimate is a donor deciding whether to give.
• If treatment is delayed or changes, say so immediately. Donors forgive delays; they do not forgive silence.

Questions people ask

Does GoFundMeNow verify the diagnosis or the hospital?

No. An administrator reads every medical fundraiser before it goes live and checks for plausibility and completeness. That is a first filter, not an audit or independent confirmation. Donors are told this on every category page.

Can Zakat be given through a medical fundraiser?

Organisers choose the category, and some place medical cases under Zakat. The platform does not assess or certify Zakat eligibility; that judgement is left to the donor.

What if the treatment fails?

Medicine is uncertain and the platform cannot promise an outcome. Say in the story what the money will do in each case, and post an update whatever happens.

Sources

1. AKUH Patient Welfare Programme
2. Indus Hospital: zakat utilisation and transparency
3. Transparent Hands: how medical crowdfunding works in Pakistan (donor guide)