Pakistani physician honored for bringing free health care to millions
Dr. Abdul Bari Khan, Founder and President of the Indus Hospital & Health Network, has been named the recipient of the 2026 James and Carol Hovey Eisenhower Fellowships Impact Award for building one of the world’s largest networks providing high-quality health care to millions of patients, free of cost.
Khan, an Eisenhower Fellow from Pakistan in 2004, was selected for EF’s fourth annual Hovey Impact Award, which recognizes outstanding achievement by an Eisenhower Fellow in generating positive impact in their society.
Launched 18 years ago as a single 150-bed hospital in Karachi, Indus has grown under Khan’s leadership into a nationwide health system serving more than six million patients annually. Today, the Indus network includes 12 multidisciplinary hospitals, four regional blood centers, three physical rehabilitation centers and more than 100 primary care sites and public health initiatives across Pakistan.
Over the last year, the network performed more than 67,000 surgeries and recorded more than 214,000 hospital admissions, 2.9 million outpatient visits and 1.4 million emergency room visits. Its work also included more than 16,000 safe deliveries, care for more than 212,000 mental health beneficiaries and malaria screenings for more than 6.3 million people.
To reach Pakistan’s most isolated and underserved populations, Khan and the Indus network have pioneered mobile health units, rapidly deployable container clinics, boat clinics and telehealth services. These programs bring care to riverine communities, flood-affected areas, deserts, urban slums and other places often beyond the reach of traditional health systems.
“Dr. Bari Khan has transformed his personal vision into an extraordinary national network that has saved countless lives and safeguarded the health of millions of people every year,” said Eisenhower Fellowships President George de Lama. “His leadership and commitment to bringing excellent care with dignity to Pakistan’s most vulnerable communities exemplify the mission of Eisenhower Fellowships.”
Khan and his work were selected from a highly competitive field of more than 45 project submissions by a distinguished panel of Eisenhower Fellowships Trustees, Fellows, outside experts and senior staff.
Khan’s Eisenhower Fellowship played an important role in shaping that growth. During his 2004 fellowship in the United States, he studied health care systems and visited hospitals specializing in cardiac and pediatric surgery. The experience exposed him to sustainable health care models and connected him with a global network of leaders whose ideas and relationships have continued to inform the growth of the Indus network.
A cardiac surgeon, Khan demonstrated his commitment to providing care for patients unable to afford it well before founding Indus. As a student and young physician, he was active in the Patients’ Welfare Association and established its blood bank. After beginning work as a cardiac surgeon in 1996, he raised 35 million rupees from community leaders to establish a cardiac surgery unit at Dow Medical College that provided free surgery to patients in need.
Khan will receive a $10,000 USD award to help advance and sustain the work of the Indus network. Trustee Jim Hovey, longtime former vice chairman of the EF Board of Trustees and chairman of its Executive Committee, will present Khan with the award that he and his wife Carol endowed at the 2026 Eisenhower Fellowships Impact Award Dinner and Pin Ceremony on November 11 at the Liberty View in Philadelphia. Learn more and register here.