Tele-Tabeeb 1123 is a free helpline that connects callers anywhere in Pakistan to a PMDC-registered doctor or a licensed mental health professional, 24 hours a day, on any phone. No app, no internet, no appointment, no fee. It is operated by Sindh Integrated Emergency & Health Services (SIEHS) under the Health Department, Government of Sindh, and has been running since August 2021.
Here is why a phone line matters more than it sounds like it should.
It is 4:00 am and your child has a fever that will not come down. You cannot tell if this needs a hospital or if it will settle with monitoring. The nearest doctor is asleep, or an hour away, or both.
Or you have been feeling low for weeks. Not sleeping properly, not eating right. You know something is wrong, but you are not going to sit in a waiting room where someone might recognise you.
Both of those have the same answer, and it costs nothing. Dial 1123.
How to call Tele-Tabeeb 1123
The process is deliberately plain.
- Dial 1123 from any phone. The line is answered around the clock, including public holidays.
- An agent takes basic details and asks what the problem is.
- The call is routed to the right professional. A doctor for medical concerns, a mental health specialist for emotional or psychological support.
- The consultation happens on the call. The doctor listens, asks questions, and advises on next steps, including whether the case needs an in-person visit or diagnostic tests.
- Follow-up is arranged where needed. Mental health cases are not treated as one-off calls.
Callers can speak in Urdu, English, or Sindhi. It helps to have the patient’s age, how long the problem has been going on, and any current medication ready before dialling.
What it costs, and who can use it
Tele-Tabeeb 1123 is free. No consultation fee, no registration, no subscription, and no charge for follow-up calls. No card, no referral, no appointment, no documents.
It is open to anyone calling from anywhere in Pakistan, not only residents of Sindh. It works on any handset, including basic feature phones, because it runs on a standard voice line rather than an app.
The service covers general medical consultation and mental health support. It is advisory rather than an emergency response line. For medical emergencies, including accidents, cardiac events, and obstetric emergencies, SIEHS operates the free 1122 ambulance service across more than 30 districts of Sindh.
The simple rule: call 1123 when you need to speak to a doctor. Call 1122 when you need one to reach you.
The mental health gap it fills
The mental health component is where the service is doing something the private sector largely has not.
Pakistan has a severe shortage of mental health practitioners relative to its population, and the ones who do exist are concentrated in a handful of urban centres. A single private consultation typically costs around Rs 3,000, which puts sustained treatment out of reach for most households. Stigma does the rest of the work, keeping people from seeking help even when they can afford it and reach it.
A phone line removes all three obstacles at once. It costs nothing, it reaches anywhere with signal, and nobody in the waiting room sees you.
Over the past year, Tele-Tabeeb counsellors supported 19 callers through severe suicidal distress, staying with them on the line and continuing counselling afterwards. Anyone in that situation can reach the same support on 1123, free, at any hour.
Why the lowest-tech channel is the widest one
Telemedicine in Pakistan has attracted meaningful private investment over the last few years, with several startups building app-based consultation platforms. Those platforms serve a real need, but they share a structural limit. They assume a smartphone, a data connection, and the ability to pay.
Tele-Tabeeb’s design assumes none of that, which is what lets it reach the people least likely to be served by a paid app.
Save the number before you need it
Nobody looks up a helpline number at 2:00 am. They find it in their contacts.
Save 1123 in your phone as “Tele-Tabeeb Doctor.” Save 1122 as “SIEHS Ambulance.”
Full details on timings, languages, and services covered are on the https://www.siehs.org/tele-tabeeb-1123/
