Zora Health / Employer guide / Pakistan
Support employees through fertility treatment, and keep the talent you have invested in.
Fertility treatment rarely fits around a work calendar, and most employees go through it quietly, often while doing some of their best work. Zora Health helps you build practical fertility support, from policies and manager guidance to confidential care navigation and access to 128+ partner clinics in 16 countries, around your workforce and budget. Companies including Hilton, LinkedIn, Sanofi, HSBC, Mastercard, Carousell and Singapore Management University work with us.
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Five things Pakistan HR leaders should know
- Pakistan’s public health card schemes are inpatient programmes and a secondary legal guide reports that they exclude fertility treatment, so most couples pay for IVF themselves: from about Rs 600,000 at private clinics and Rs 200,000 to 350,000 at public centres (Dawn, May 2025).
- A 2017 Federal Shariat Court ruling accepted IVF using a married couple’s own egg and sperm, carried by the same mother, and declared surrogacy unlawful. There is no dedicated assisted reproduction statute.
- The federal Maternity and Paternity Leave Act 2023 (180 days’ maternity, up to 30 days’ paternity) covers only establishments under federal administrative control; provincial laws give 12 to 16 weeks.
- There is no statutory fertility leave, and no Personal Data Protection Bill had been enacted as of March 2026, the latest status we could confirm, so employers need their own rules for treatment data.
- Aon projects gross medical cost growth of 23.5% in Pakistan for 2026 (15.8% net of inflation), against 11.3% gross for Asia Pacific. A fixed annual allowance keeps a fertility benefit’s cost predictable while plan premiums rise.
Why fertility is a business problem for employers
Fertility treatment does not fit around a work calendar. A clinic sets the date of a scan the day before. Egg collection happens when the body is ready, usually about 36 hours after a final trigger injection. Then comes a two-week wait, and for many couples, another cycle. Your team feels it: missed meetings, unexplained absences, a strong performer who suddenly goes quiet.
We found no published Pakistani survey of employees in fertility treatment, so there is no local figure for how many hide it from their employer. Dawn reported heavy stigma around infertility in 2025. The multi-country evidence points the same way: in Carrot Fertility’s 2023 survey of 5,000 people in Canada, India, Mexico, the UK and the US, 79% said they were uneasy discussing fertility at work.
- Resignations. 39% of employees with fertility challenges left or considered leaving their job during treatment, in Ferring’s 2025 survey of more than 3,600 employees and employers in Australia, France, Japan, Poland and the UK.
- Lower performance. 55% said fertility challenges had hurt their work performance (Carrot, 2023, Canada, India, Mexico, the UK and the US).
- Cost falls on the employee. Private IVF costs start at about Rs 600,000, and some patients interviewed by Dawn in 2025 reported paying Rs 800,000 to more than Rs 1 million for a single attempt. Public centres are few, and Dawn describes the sector as poorly regulated.
- Unequal access. Public IVF is limited to a handful of government centres, such as the Sindh Reproductive and Genetic Health Centre at Jinnah Sindh Medical University in Karachi. Employees outside the large cities, or on local plans that exclude fertility care, carry the full cost and travel.
What employers gain
Keep the people you spent the most to develop
Replacing an employee costs one-half to two times their annual salary, according to Gallup. Employees in treatment are often those with experience and client relationships that are hard to replace. A written policy, paid time off and a funded allowance can help address barriers that contribute to employee attrition.
Stand out in a tight labour market
73% of employees facing fertility challenges said a role offering fertility support would appeal to them (Ferring, 2025), and 65% said they would change jobs for fertility benefits (Carrot, 2023). In Pakistan, women’s labour force participation was 24.4% in 2024 to 25 against 69.8% for men, according to the Labour Force Survey. Unemployment among women with a bachelor’s degree was 23.8% (Profit, 2026), a large pool of qualified women.
Make fertility support financially predictable
An annual or lifetime allowance, clear eligibility rules and guidance on choosing a clinic set the employer’s maximum cost in advance. That matters in Pakistan, where Aon projects gross medical cost growth of 23.5% in 2026 and 24.4% in 2027 (15.8% and 16.0% after general inflation).
Zora helps employers structure benefits around local treatment costs, the gaps left by public schemes and group medical plans, and the legal rules on who can receive treatment, so HR can run the programme within an agreed budget.
Want to see what this would look like for your Pakistan workforce?
What IVF costs, and what the state pays
IVF in Pakistan is mostly self-funded. Prices vary widely between clinics and cities, and Pakistan has no national registry publishing standard fees or outcomes. The World Health Organization estimates that about 1 in 6 people worldwide are affected by infertility; we found no recent national prevalence study strong enough to use here. The figures below come from patient and clinic reporting in 2025.
| Treatment | Setting | Reported cost |
|---|---|---|
| IVF, one cycle | Private clinic | From about Rs 600,000 |
| IVF, one cycle | Public centre | Rs 200,000 to 350,000 |
| IVF medicines only | Sindh Reproductive and Genetic Health Centre, Karachi (doctor and lab fees covered) | Rs 100,000 to 150,000 |
| IVF, selected patient totals for one attempt | Private clinics in Karachi and Lahore | About Rs 620,000 to more than Rs 1 million |
Source: Dawn, 11 May 2025. Dawn does not say whether the clinic ranges are per cycle. Patient totals are individual accounts and can include tests, drugs, egg collection, transfer and anaesthesia. We could not verify published egg freezing prices in Pakistan, so they are left out.
| Item | Public support (or own savings) | What the employee still carries |
|---|---|---|
| IVF and IUI | Sehat Sahulat and provincial health cards cover inpatient care; a secondary legal guide lists fertility treatment as excluded. A few government centres offer subsidised IVF. | Full private cost, or medicines and travel at a public centre |
| Public IVF access | In March 2022, Punjab announced free IVF at a government mother and child hospital in Lahore, due to open that June; we could not confirm that it is operating. Sindh has run a public centre in Karachi since 2021. | Limited places and travel from other cities |
| Egg freezing | No public support. Own savings only (not a subsidy). | Full cost of stimulation, collection and annual storage |
| Group medical plans | Fertility cover depends on the policy wording; check exclusions with your insurer. | Any cost the plan excludes, plus time off |
Sources: Commoner Law, Sehat Sahulat guide (exclusions and the approximate Rs 1 million family limit are from a secondary legal guide, not a government notice); ARY News, March 2022; Dawn, July 2021; Dawn, 2025. In January 2026, the Pakistan Medical Association in Lahore objected to Punjab’s removal of gynaecology and obstetrics services from its Sehat Card scheme (ProPakistani).
Age is one of the strongest predictors of IVF success, alongside individual medical and treatment factors. Pakistan has no national IVF registry reporting success by age; private clinics in Karachi and Lahore quoted by Dawn in May 2025 reported 25% to 40% success, and the Karachi public centre 17% to 18%. These are the clinics’ own figures, and Dawn does not say whether they are pregnancy or live birth rates.
The same article cites American Society for Reproductive Medicine figures of 30% to 35% for women under 35 and 25% to 30% at 35 to 37, falling further after 40. Older patients often need more cycles, which is why the size of an allowance, and when employees can use it, matter as much as whether you offer one.
Give Employees Access to Fertility Specialists Across Asia
Help employees navigate fertility care with access to doctors and clinics, treatment information, and clear guidance on IVF, egg freezing and other fertility options. Employees can explore their options privately, without needing to go through HR.
Fertility clinics in Pakistan on the Zora app include Australian Concept Infertility Medical Center, Lahore, Australian Concept Infertility Medical Center, Islamabad and Australian Concept Infertility Medical Center, Karachi.
Fertility support that fits your workforce and budget
You do not need to overhaul your existing health insurance to support employees through fertility treatment. Start with awareness and manager education, add confidential one-to-one support, or introduce a funded allowance across your offices. There is no minimum company size.
Where included in the employer programme, eligible employees can use talks and care navigation without paying Zora a separate fee. Care navigation allowances are set in each proposal. Treatment and other third-party costs are paid separately, either by employees or through the fertility allowance their employer provides.
Companies starting the conversation
Essentials
Expert-led talks for employees and managers, fertility and menopause policy templates, manager guides and full access to the Zora app. Up to 2 talks a year.
Employees supported one to one
Navigation
Everything in Essentials, plus confidential one-to-one care navigation and access to our partner clinic network.
Large teams across Asia
Complete
Everything in Navigation, plus quarterly anonymised reporting, a dedicated account manager and scheduled review meetings with HR.
Optional add-ons can be added to any programme, subject to availability: hormone and fertility diagnostics and telehealth with specialists. Pricing is tailored to your headcount, your countries and the services you choose. Most companies start with a single talk.
Request a proposal See how Zora works for employers
Comparing fertility benefit providers? Use our RFP question bank
Most RFP templates were written for the US. Ours has 40 questions written for Asia, with why each one matters, what a good answer looks like and a scoring sheet for three providers. Six of the questions for Pakistan:
- Are local-plan employees covered, or only staff on international health plans?
- Do you require an infertility diagnosis before support starts?
- Which partner clinics do you use in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, and how do you check their credentials and reported success rates?
- How do you apply the 2017 Federal Shariat Court ruling when setting eligibility, for example for married couples, single employees and egg freezing?
- How does the allowance work alongside our group medical plan and any Sehat card or public centre treatment the employee uses?
- Where is employee treatment data stored and who can see it, given that Pakistan has no data protection law in force?
Your download link appears here as soon as you submit. Zora Health may contact you about employee benefits; see our privacy policy.
Plan your fertility benefit budget
Fertility benefit budget planner
Model the annual claims budget for a fertility allowance. Change any number.
This is a claims budget, not a Zora quotation. Zora’s programme fees, implementation and optional services are separate.
Illustration only. Utilisation is an editable assumption, not observed Zora data. The calculation assumes each user claims their full annual allowance, and excludes programme fees and setup costs. For a tailored model, request an employer proposal.
Estimate the potential workforce impact of fertility challenges
A rough planning scenario. It applies a global infertility estimate to your headcount, so it is not a prediction for your workforce, a measured loss or a forecast of savings from any programme.
Range: Rs 11,275,000 to Rs 31,900,000 a year, depending on replacement cost.
Assumptions: infertility affects about 1 in 6 adults (World Health Organization, 2023), applied to employees aged 25 to 44. Replacing an employee costs one-half to two times their annual salary (Gallup, 2019); the headline uses the low end. Absence is valued at salary divided by 250 working days. Exit rate and days lost are your own assumptions.
This is a hypothetical cost scenario, not a prediction of actual employee departures, an estimate of Zora’s financial impact or a guaranteed saving from fertility benefits.
Already have corporate health insurance? Here is where Zora fits
Your medical plan may cover some consultations and tests, but fertility treatment is often limited or excluded, so check your policy wording. Employees still need to understand their options, the public funding they qualify for and which clinic suits them.
Zora works alongside your existing insurance and benefits. We help employees get reliable information, navigate their care options and reach suitable specialists, and we give HR manager guidance, policy templates and, on the Complete programme, anonymised reporting. You strengthen fertility support without replacing your medical plan.
How Zora works
For your employees
Employees join the Zora app with a company code, or single sign-on for larger teams. They can learn about fertility and egg freezing, understand what your benefit covers, book a confidential care navigation call and find partner clinics and specialists.
For HR
- Kick-off, week 1. Agree goals, countries and which employees are eligible.
- Policy and benefit design, weeks 2 to 4. Draft or update your fertility policy using our templates.
- Launch, typically weeks 4 to 6. A launch talk for employees and managers, plus a communications pack for HR to send.
- Live support. Employees book care navigation calls and use the Zora app.
- Reporting, every 3 months, on the Complete programme. Anonymised usage, common themes and our recommendations, reviewed with your account manager.
Privacy
Employee privacy is central to our programmes. On the Complete programme, routine employer reports contain aggregated engagement and utilisation information, with safeguards to prevent identification of individual employees. On every programme, personal health information is not included in standard HR reporting, and employees can get help without telling their manager. Where eligibility checks or claims administration need individual-level data, access is limited to authorised parties for defined purposes, as agreed in writing before launch. Employee data is handled in line with Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Act and the principles of Pakistan’s draft Personal Data Protection Bill, which had not been enacted as of March 2026, the latest status we could confirm.
Clinics and doctors in Pakistan
Zora’s directory lists 21 clinics and 43 doctors in Pakistan. Locations include Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi. All of the clinics list IVF, and 3 list egg freezing.
Employees can browse clinics in Pakistan, see IVF clinics and find a doctor in Pakistan on the Zora app. The directory is for information only and is not an endorsement. See Zora’s employer guides for every country.
Rules and eligibility in Pakistan
Who can use assisted reproduction
In February 2017, in a case brought by Farooq Siddiqui, the Federal Shariat Court held that IVF is lawful where the sperm comes from the husband, the egg from the wife and the child is carried by the same mother. It declared surrogacy un-Islamic and directed the government to amend the Pakistan Penal Code and contract law to penalise it, including doctors keeping sperm banks for future use (Dawn). In practice, treatment is limited to married couples using their own gametes. Pakistan has no dedicated assisted reproduction statute or licensing regulator.
Egg freezing
We found no federal statute or regulator guidance on elective egg freezing. The 2017 ruling allows conception only with a married couple’s own gametes, so eggs frozen by a single employee could later be used only within marriage. Religious views differ, so take local legal advice before offering it to unmarried staff.
Maternity and paternity leave
The Maternity and Paternity Leave Act 2023 applies to public and private establishments under the administrative control of the federal government. Female employees get fully paid maternity leave of 180 days for the first birth, 120 for the second and 90 for the third, up to three times in their service. A male employee whose wife is expecting can take up to 30 days’ paid paternity leave, up to three times. Breaches can bring up to 6 months’ imprisonment, a fine of up to Rs 100,000, or both. Elsewhere, provincial laws apply: 16 weeks fully paid in Sindh after one year’s continuous service (Sindh Maternity Benefits Act 2018), and 12 weeks in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan (WageIndicator).
Protection during maternity, and no fertility leave
Under the Sindh Act, dismissing a woman during or because of her maternity leave is an offence, and provincial maternity laws bar dismissal during maternity leave (WageIndicator). No law in Pakistan provides fertility or IVF leave; employees use annual, sick or unpaid leave.
Health cards and data protection
On 16 January 2026, the Prime Minister relaunched the Sehat Card for Islamabad Capital Territory, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, with 70 hospitals planned; the report did not mention fertility cover (Dawn, January 2026). In June 2026, the federal government relaunched the Sehat Sahulat Program in 42 hospitals in Islamabad and Rawalpindi (Express Tribune); reports did not mention fertility cover. In January 2026, doctors in Lahore reported that Punjab had removed gynaecology and obstetrics from its health card. A government Personal Data Protection Bill has been drafted several times, most recently in 2023, and the IT ministry opposed a later private member’s bill in the Senate while preparing its own draft. None had become law as of March 2026 (Mondaq; Chambers, updated 10 March 2026), and we found no report of enactment since. Until a law passes, there is no statutory category for sensitive health data.
Why employers choose Zora
Companies including Hilton, LinkedIn, Sanofi, HSBC, Mastercard, Carousell and Singapore Management University work with Zora Health. We work alongside your existing insurance, helping employees use the cover they already have and find suitable specialists based on their needs.
Trying to conceive with a heavy workload took a toll on my husband and me. It helped us understand our options.
Questions HR teams ask us
Is fertility leave mandatory in Pakistan?
No. No federal or provincial law requires fertility or IVF leave. Employees usually use annual, sick or unpaid leave. The Maternity and Paternity Leave Act 2023 covers maternity and paternity leave only, and only in establishments under federal administrative control.
Does the Sehat card cover IVF?
Sehat Sahulat and the provincial health cards are inpatient schemes, and a secondary legal guide lists fertility treatment as excluded; we found no official notice confirming this. A small number of public centres, such as the Sindh Reproductive and Genetic Health Centre in Karachi, offer IVF at lower cost, but patients still pay for medicines.
Who can legally have IVF in Pakistan?
A 2017 Federal Shariat Court ruling accepted IVF using a married couple’s own egg and sperm, with the wife carrying the pregnancy. The court declared surrogacy unlawful, and donor eggs or sperm fall outside the conditions it accepted. Agree eligibility rules with local legal counsel.
Does Zora replace our health insurance?
No. Zora works alongside your insurance. We help employees understand their options, find suitable specialists and use the cover they already have.
How much does a fertility benefit cost an employer?
It depends on the allowance, eligibility and expected uptake. Use the budget planner on this page for a first estimate, then ask us for a tailored proposal based on your headcount and countries.
How quickly can we launch?
Typically 4 to 6 weeks from contract to launch, depending on scope and countries. Most companies start with a single talk.
Related guides for Pakistan employers
Build a fertility benefit for your team
Whether you are introducing fertility benefits for the first time or improving an existing programme, tell us your headcount, countries and priorities. We will come back within two working days with suitable services, an indicative budget and a practical rollout plan for your Pakistan team. No obligation.
Not ready to talk yet? Explore how Zora works
Sources
- Dawn (Eos), Sarah B. Haider, feature on IVF in Pakistan, 11 May 2025
- Dawn, Shariat court okays test-tube babies, 22 February 2017
- National Assembly of Pakistan, Maternity and Paternity Leave Act 2023
- Arab News Pakistan, President approves law extending maternity and paternity leave, 20 June 2023
- Sindh Maternity Benefits Act 2018
- WageIndicator Pakistan, Maternity leave and other benefits
- Dawn, Labour Force Survey 2024 to 25 findings, 26 November 2025
- Profit by Pakistan Today, Nearly 24% of highly educated women unemployed, 27 February 2026
- Arab News Pakistan, Pakistan fertility rate declines to 3.6 in 2024 (UN World Fertility Report 2024), 3 February 2025
- Aon, APAC medical cost growth projected to slow to 9.7% in 2027, 12 October 2026
- Commoner Law, Sehat Sahulat and Naya Pakistan Health Card guide, 2026
- Express Tribune, Sehat Sahulat Program relaunched, 11 June 2026
- ProPakistani, Doctors urge Punjab government to restore maternity care under health card, January 2026
- ARY News, Punjab government offers medical facilities for test-tube babies, 1 March 2022
- Mondaq, Why Pakistan is stalling on data protection, 24 March 2026
- Dawn, First infertility treatment centre in public sector opens, 2 July 2021
- Chambers and Partners, Data Protection and Privacy 2026: Pakistan, updated 10 March 2026
- Dawn, PM relaunches Sehat Card for Islamabad, AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan, 16 January 2026
- Ferring Pharmaceuticals, Fertility Matters at Work and This Can Happen, workplace fertility survey, November 2025
- Carrot Fertility, Global Fertility at Work report, 2023
- Gallup, This fixable problem costs US businesses $1 trillion, 2019
- World Health Organization, 1 in 6 people globally affected by infertility, April 2023
Information on this page is correct as of 5 November 2026. Laws, public funding, insurance rules and treatment costs change often, so check current rules with the relevant authority, insurer or a qualified adviser before making decisions. This page is general information, not legal, financial, tax or medical advice.