My Family Member Was Hospitalised in Pakistan — What Do I Do From the UK?

The Call Nobody Wants to Get

It comes at 2am. Your brother is on the phone from Lahore, your mother has been rushed to hospital, and you're sitting in Birmingham with no idea what's happening or who to call.

This is a situation thousands of Pakistani diaspora families face every year. Being thousands of miles away when a loved one is admitted to hospital in Pakistan is one of the most helpless feelings imaginable — made worse by language barriers, unfamiliar hospitals, and doctors who are too busy to take calls from overseas.

Here's exactly what you should do, step by step.

Step 1: Stay Calm and Gather Basic Information

Before you can do anything useful, you need the basics:

• Which hospital? Get the full name and city.
• Which ward or department? (Emergency, ICU, surgical ward, etc.)
• Who is the treating doctor? Ask for the consultant's name.
• What is the working diagnosis? Even a rough one helps.
• Who is physically present at the hospital? You need a reliable contact on the ground.

Write all of this down. You will need to repeat it to multiple people.

Step 2: Establish a Ground Contact

If you have a family member or trusted friend who can go to the hospital, get them there immediately. Their job is to:

• Stay at the bedside or in the waiting area
• Speak to the nurses every few hours
• Take photos of any reports, prescriptions, or investigation results and WhatsApp them to you
• Ask for the doctor's round time (usually morning in Pakistani hospitals, 8–10am)

If you have nobody on the ground — this is where a medical liaison service becomes essential.

Step 3: Get the Medical Information You Need

Pakistani hospitals vary enormously in quality and communication. In many cases, families abroad struggle because:

• Doctors don't return overseas calls
• Reports are written in medical terminology nobody explains
• Different family members get contradictory information
• Nobody tells you when the situation changes

What you need to know:

• The confirmed diagnosis
• The treatment plan (medications, procedures planned)
• Investigation results (blood tests, scans)
• Prognosis — what is the expected outcome?
• What decisions need to be made, and when?

Step 4: Understand the Pakistani Hospital System

If you grew up in the UK, the NHS model is what you know — one consultant, clear handover, written discharge summaries. Pakistani hospitals work differently:

• Public hospitals (like Mayo, Jinnah, Services in Lahore) are often overwhelmed but have excellent specialists. Ward rounds are crowded and brief.
• Private hospitals (like Shaukat Khanum, Aga Khan, Shifa, Evercare) offer better communication but at significant cost.
• Doctors often see patients twice a day — brief morning and evening rounds. Outside those times, the nursing staff manage the ward.
• Investigations often need to be paid for upfront — labs, CT scans, MRIs. Keep money available on the ground.

Step 5: Make the Key Decisions

Depending on the situation, you may need to make decisions about:

• Continuing care at the current hospital vs. seeking transfer to a better facility
• Authorising procedures — surgery, invasive investigations
• Bringing the patient back to the UK — this requires medical fitness to fly assessment and sometimes medical repatriation insurance

For any of these decisions, you need accurate medical information first. A second opinion from a UK-based doctor who understands both systems can be invaluable.

How EmergencyInPakistan.com Can Help

Our team — led by Dr. Rao Taimoor Hameed Khan, an Emergency Medicine Consultant with active practice in both the NHS and Pakistan — exists specifically for this situation.

We can:

• Contact the treating doctor directly and get a clear picture of the situation
• Translate medical jargon into plain English and send it to you on WhatsApp
• Attend ward rounds on your behalf if needed
• Coordinate investigations and ensure nothing is missed
• Provide a second opinion on the diagnosis and treatment plan

Our Hospital Liaison service starts at £50 for a single interaction. For families dealing with ongoing illness, our Annual Care Liaison (£1,000/year) covers unlimited interactions throughout the year.

**Message us on WhatsApp to get started →**

Emergency Numbers to Save Right Now

Even before anything happens, save these:

Being far away doesn't mean being helpless. With the right information and the right support, you can be fully involved in your family member's care — from wherever you are in the world.