LFT Test Price in Pakistan (2026): Lab Rates and How to Read Your Report

Your report comes back with one line highlighted in red: SGPT 68. The reference range printed beside it stops at 56. Nobody at the collection centre explains it, the doctor's next slot is in eleven days, and you have already typed "SGPT 68 liver damage" into Google and frightened yourself. Here is what an LFT costs across Pakistani labs right now, what each line on the report actually measures, and which numbers genuinely need a doctor.

LFT test price in Pakistan: what labs charge in 2026

The test is usually listed as Liver Function Test (LFT), sometimes as LFT with GGT, sometimes as Liver Profile. Same blood draw, same tube. Booking through an online partner is almost always cheaper than walking in, because most labs run a standing 15 to 25 percent discount on digital bookings.

Lab	Walk-in rate (PKR)	Booked online (PKR)
Islamabad Diagnostic Centre (IDC)	2,400	1,680 to 2,160
Chughtai Lab	2,200	about 1,760
Excel Labs	2,200	about 1,760
Dr. Essa Laboratory	2,130	about 1,704
The Citi Lab	2,000	about 1,700
Zeenat Laboratory	1,800	about 1,440
Human Care Laboratories	1,600	about 1,200
Gardezi Lab	1,400	about 1,050

Rates checked August 2026 against published lab and booking-platform listings, and they do move. Outside the brand-name chains, a full LFT panel in Pakistan sits roughly between Rs 1,000 and Rs 2,400. Teaching hospital labs and neighbourhood labs sit at the lower end and the result is no less valid.

Why one lab charges Rs 1,050 and another Rs 2,400

An LFT is not one test. It is eight or nine separate chemistry assays run off a single sample, so the price depends on how many markers the lab bundles in. A cheap Rs 900 "liver profile" often means three markers: SGPT, SGOT and bilirubin. The Rs 2,200 version at Chughtai adds ALP, GGT, direct bilirubin, total protein, albumin and globulin. Ask which markers are included before you compare two quotes, otherwise you are comparing a small panel against a full one.

The rest of the gap is branch network, free home sampling and accreditation. Those are real services, and if a phlebotomist coming to your flat in Karachi at 8am saves you a half-day off work, the extra Rs 500 is fair. It buys convenience, not accuracy.

What is actually on the report

Reference ranges are printed on your own report and vary a little between labs because of different analysers. Always read your number against the range on your sheet, not against a figure from a WhatsApp forward.

Marker	Typical adult range	What a raised number points to
ALT (SGPT)	7 to 56 U/L	The most liver-specific enzyme. Fatty liver, viral hepatitis, a medicine reaction
AST (SGOT)	10 to 40 U/L	Liver, but also muscle. Heavy gym sessions and intramuscular injections push it up
ALP	44 to 147 U/L	Bile flow. Also rises normally in pregnancy and in growing teenagers
GGT	9 to 48 U/L	Bile ducts and alcohol. Mainly used to confirm a raised ALP is coming from the liver and not bone
Total bilirubin	0.1 to 1.2 mg/dL	Jaundice. Often harmless Gilbert's syndrome when enzymes are normal
Direct bilirubin	0.0 to 0.3 mg/dL	A blockage in the bile ducts, or damaged liver cells
Albumin	3.5 to 5.0 g/dL	A low value matters here. Long-standing liver disease, kidney loss, poor nutrition
Total protein / globulin	6.0 to 8.3 g/dL	Read alongside albumin. Rarely useful on its own

One thing worth understanding: enzymes like ALT and AST leak out of liver cells when those cells are irritated. They tell you something is bothering the liver. They do not tell you how well the liver is working. Albumin, bilirubin and clotting time are the markers that speak to function, which is why a mildly raised SGPT with a normal albumin is a very different report from a normal SGPT with an albumin of 2.8.

Do you need to fast before an LFT?

For a standalone LFT, usually no. Chughtai lists fasting as needed only if your doctor asks for it. What changes the answer is bundling. Most people get an LFT alongside a sugar test or a lipid profile, and those do want 10 to 12 hours of fasting, so the whole draw becomes a fasting one. Ask the lab what else is on your form.

Two practical things do affect the result. Skip a heavy gym session the day before, because muscle work raises AST and can make a normal liver look inflamed. And carry your medicine list, including anything from a hakeem, because that list explains a surprising number of abnormal reports.

Your SGPT is high. What usually causes it in Pakistan

A mild rise, meaning up to about twice the top of the range, is extremely common and rarely an emergency. The reasons, in rough order of how often they turn up here:

Fatty liver

This is the single most likely answer. A 2024 meta-analysis pooling 13 Pakistani studies put non-alcoholic fatty liver disease at 29.82 percent of the general population, rising to 58.47 percent among people with diabetes and 74 percent among people classed as obese. So roughly one in three adults walking into a Pakistani lab already has some degree of fat in the liver, and most of them have no symptoms at all beyond feeling tired.

Fatty liver tracks closely with waist size and blood sugar. If you want a starting reference point, run your numbers through the BMI calculator, though for South Asians the risk threshold sits lower than the standard chart suggests. Waist measurement is honestly the better guide.

Hepatitis B and C

Pakistan carries one of the heaviest hepatitis C burdens in the world. A household survey across 29 districts of Sindh, published by the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal in 2024, found 6.1 percent of participants positive for anti-HCV and 1.0 percent for hepatitis B surface antigen.

Here is the part most people get wrong: an LFT does not test for hepatitis. It measures damage, not cause. If your SGPT is up and nobody has checked, ask specifically for HBsAg and anti-HCV. Both are cheap, usually Rs 700 to Rs 1,500 each, and hepatitis C is now curable in most cases with a 12-week course of tablets available free through provincial programmes. Chasing that answer is worth far more than repeating the LFT.

Medicines and supplements

Anti-TB treatment is a well known cause, and anyone on isoniazid or rifampicin gets monitored for exactly this reason. Beyond that: regular high-dose paracetamol, co-amoxiclav, statins, some anti-epileptics, and a long list of herbal and unlabelled preparations sold for weight loss, "detox" or gym gains. Anabolic steroids and heavily dosed pre-workouts are a common cause of raised enzymes in young men who are otherwise healthy. If your report is abnormal and you take something daily, bring the box to your appointment.

Numbers that should not wait for a slot next week

Most raised LFTs can be discussed at a routine appointment. See a doctor promptly if any of these apply:

• Enzymes above roughly five times the upper limit, so an SGPT over about 250
• Yellow eyes or skin, pale stools, or dark tea-coloured urine
• Bilirubin climbing while enzymes stay normal-ish, which can mean a blocked duct
• Albumin below about 3.0 g/dL with no other explanation
• Swelling of the abdomen or ankles, or bruising and bleeding gums
• Confusion or unusual drowsiness in someone with known liver disease. That is an emergency

An isolated raised total bilirubin with completely normal enzymes, often noticed after fasting or an illness, is frequently Gilbert's syndrome. It is a harmless inherited quirk of bilirubin processing and needs no treatment, but let a doctor confirm it rather than assuming.

What actually brings the numbers down

For fatty liver, which is the commonest reason you are reading this, weight is the lever with the strongest evidence behind it. The US National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases states that losing 3 to 5 percent of body weight reduces liver fat, and 7 to 10 percent is needed to reduce inflammation and scarring. For an 80 kg person that first target is under 4 kg. It is achievable, and SGPT often follows within three to six months.

Practical version for a Pakistani kitchen: cut the sugary drinks and the bakery items first, because fructose is the part that goes most directly to liver fat. Halve the roti portion rather than banning it. Keep the daal and the sabzi. Walk 30 to 40 minutes most days. If you want to see where your intake actually sits before changing anything, the calorie calculator gives you a starting number, and our guide to losing weight without crash dieting covers the rest.

On supplements, be sceptical of anything sold as a liver detox. Milk thistle has been studied a lot and the evidence for it lowering enzymes meaningfully remains weak, which we cover honestly in our liver health guide. Vitamin E has some trial support in biopsy-confirmed NASH, but only in specific patients and only under a doctor, because the doses used are not casual ones. Fibre is the boring option that genuinely helps, since it improves the blood sugar and lipid picture sitting underneath fatty liver. Something like Fybosim natural fibre at Rs 390 is a reasonable daily add-on. Antioxidant products such as Gluthic glutathione at Rs 3,500 or Cee chewable vitamin C at Rs 690 support general wellness, and neither one substitutes for finding out why the enzyme is raised.

Whatever you change, hold off on repeating the test for at least eight to twelve weeks. Enzymes bounce around week to week, and retesting after ten days mostly buys you anxiety and another Rs 1,700.

Booking it without overpaying

• Book online rather than walking in. The same lab, the same sample, 15 to 25 percent less
• Confirm how many markers are in the panel. Nine markers at Rs 2,000 beats three at Rs 1,200
• If your doctor has ordered an LFT plus a sugar test plus a lipid profile, ask about a combined health profile. Bundles usually undercut three separate bookings
• Free home sampling is standard at the large chains now, so do not accept a surcharge for it
• Keep the printed report. Comparing this SGPT to the one from last year tells a doctor more than either number alone

An LFT is one of the cheapest and most informative tests you can order in Pakistan, and it earns its place if you are over 35, carrying weight around the middle, living with diabetes, or on long-term medication. Where it goes wrong is when the report gets read alone. One red line on a chemistry panel is a prompt to ask a better question, and usually the better question is whether hepatitis has been ruled out and whether there is fat sitting in the liver. Both have answers, and both are fixable more often than people expect.

If you are working through a set of routine tests, our guides to the CBC test price, thyroid test price and vitamin D test price in Pakistan cover the same ground for those reports.

This article is for general information and is not a substitute for a consultation. Reviewed against published lab rates and the sources linked above. See our medical review board.