Rehab in Islamabad: how to choose a rehabilitation centre
Written for the family making the phone call, not for search engines. If you end up choosing somewhere other than us, this page has still done its job.
If you are reading this, someone you love is probably still using, and you have probably already tried everything reasonable — promises, strictness, money, threats, prayer. That does not mean you failed. Addiction is a medical and psychological illness, and willpower alone rarely resolves it any more than willpower resolves diabetes. That is also the reason there is realistic hope here: an illness can be treated, and thousands of families in Islamabad have come out the other side of this.
There are a number of rehabilitation centres in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, and they are not equivalent. Some are excellent. Some are little more than locked rooms. The difference is rarely visible from a website, which is why the questions below matter more than any claim a centre makes about itself — including ours.
Six questions worth asking any rehab centre
- Ask to see the actual ward. Not the reception, not a brochure. Where will the patient sleep, and who is in the next bed?
- Ask who delivers the therapy. A qualified psychologist or a former patient? Both have value, but you should know which you are getting.
- Ask the counsellor-to-patient ratio. Twenty patients to one counsellor is supervision, not treatment.
- Ask how much is counselling. Medication manages withdrawal. Counselling is what changes the outcome. Ask for the split.
- Ask what happens after discharge. Relapse concentrates in the first weeks home. A centre with no follow-up plan has no answer for that.
- Ask about the same-sex facility. If the patient is a woman, ask whether the staff are female and whether the building is separate.
Ask us these questions too. Call 0333-5556427 — the line is answered at any hour, and the first conversation costs nothing.
Free and zakat-funded places
Cost stops a great many families from getting help at all, and it should not. A limited number of free and zakat-funded places are available at Islamic Medical Centre. Availability changes through the year and eligibility is assessed case by case, so the only way to know is to ask.
If you cannot afford treatment, say so plainly when you call. You will not be judged for it, and it will not change the standard of care offered. If we genuinely cannot help, we will tell you rather than leave you waiting on a list.
منشیات کا علاج — treatment in your own language
Many families search for منشیات کا علاج (manshiat ka elaj) or نشہ چھڑانے کا علاج — treatment to quit drugs — rather than the English word "rehab". It is the same thing, and it is what we do.
Assessments and counselling are held in Urdu and English, and our counsellors also speak Pashto, Punjabi and Sindhi. Nobody should have to discuss something this difficult in a second language. The site itself can be read in all five — use the language selector at the top of the page.
What treatment here actually involves
Our approach is roughly 80% counselling and therapy to 20% medication. Medication makes withdrawal survivable; it does not make anyone well. The work that changes the outcome is psychotherapy, and where there is depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia underneath the addiction, it is treating both together — leaving one untreated is among the most common reasons people relapse.
A typical path runs from emergency detoxification or a planned withdrawal programme, into residential rehabilitation of 30, 60 or 90 days, with family counselling alongside and home follow-ups after discharge. You can see the wards and grounds here, and read about specific substances and behavioural addictions in our information guides.
We have treated more than 10,000 patients since 2006. That is not a promise about any individual — no honest clinic can offer one — but it does mean that whatever your family is going through, we have almost certainly sat with a family in the same position.
Common questions
Visit before you commit and ask to see the ward the patient will actually sleep in. Ask who runs the therapy and what their qualification is, how many counsellors there are per patient, and what proportion of the programme is counselling rather than medication. Ask what happens after discharge, because relapse usually happens in the weeks that follow. A centre that answers all of that plainly, and lets you look around, is telling you something. One that will not is telling you something too.
A limited number of free and zakat-funded places are available at Islamic Medical Centre. Availability changes through the year and eligibility is assessed case by case, so please call 0333-5556427 and ask. If we cannot help, we will say so rather than keep you waiting.
Fees depend on the programme and how long the stay is, from a short detox of around ten days to a residential programme of three to four months. We will give you a straight figure over the phone before you commit to anything, and we will tell you what it does and does not include.
Islamic Medical Centre treats drug and alcohol addiction — منشیات اور نشہ — at Khana Pul, Ghauri Town in Islamabad, with admission available 24 hours a day. Consultations are held in Urdu and English, and our counsellors also speak Pashto, Punjabi and Sindhi, so families can discuss treatment in the language they are most comfortable in.
Detox alone takes roughly ten days. That clears the substance from the body but rarely holds on its own, which is why most people go on to a residential programme of 30, 60 or 90 days built around therapy. The right length depends on the substance, how long it has been used, and what else is going on in the person's mental health.
Yes. We run a separate building for women with its own entrance and a 24-hour female staff, including female psychiatrists. Families who would not consider a mixed facility often find this is what makes treatment possible at all.
This is the most common question families ask. We offer home assessment and crisis intervention, where our team visits and talks to the person directly. Many people who arrive reluctantly stay once the first days of withdrawal are behind them. We will not, however, pretend that force produces recovery — the aim of that first visit is to get willing agreement, not to remove someone against their will.
If you need to act today
Call 0333-5556427 or 0320-5500040. Admission is available 24 hours a day at Khana Pul Ghauri Town, Phase 1, Near Masjid Khulafa e Rashideen, Islamabad. If it is easier to write than to talk, send a confidential enquiry and we will call you back.