Daily Times

LAHORE: Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre (SKMCH&RC) has completed 24 years of service and has spent over Rs 32 billion in providing free treatment to thousands of deserving cancer patients.

None of this would have been possible without unconditional and unflagging support from people of Pakistan.

According to details, SKMCH&RC was awarded the Joint Commission International’s (JCI) Gold Seal of Approval for Hospital Accreditation by demonstrating continuous compliance with the JCI’s internationally-recognised standards. The Gold Seal of Approval is a symbol of quality that reflects an organisation’s commitment to providing safe and effective patient care.

Any quality service struggles to cope with capacity issues, particularly so when the service being provided is free for the majority of its recipients. This is the reason why the creation of additional physical space has become imperative to meet our increasing workload. To address this issue and to provide cancer treatment to the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), near to their house, the second Shaukat Khanum Hospital was built in 2015.

To start the project, Prime Minister Imran Khan launched a nation-wide appeal in 1989, followed by a campaign to collect funds through 50 fundraising events around the world. Support for the cause was overwhelming in all tiers of society. In 1994, when the project required additional ?nancing, PM Imran Khan travelled to 27 cities in Pakistan in the form of a mass contact campaign to collect funds for the completion of the project. SKMCH&RC was planned in three phases, with the ?rst one costing nearly $ 22 million; nearly 67 percent of the required budget came in the form of donations. As a result, SKMCH&RC opened its doors to patients on December 29, 1994.

In Peshawar, facilities at SKMCH&RC continue to be scaled up to meet the burden of patients from KP and adjoining areas. The hospital has now completed three successful years of operations and has seen a steady increase in the number of consultant physicians working at the hospital, as well as in the number of inpatient and chemotherapy beds. In 2019, our new, state-of-the-art Radiation Oncology Department will begin functioning in Peshawar. Following on from this, we plan to start construction of the operating rooms in the Peshawar hospital, with a view to commencing surgical services there during 2020.

While these two existing facilities continue to provide much-needed services to deserving patients, thousands of poor cancer patients continue to suffer in Sindh and Balochistan. The construction of the third and largest SKMCH&RC, in Karachi, will thus be of immense importance for brothers and sisters in Sindh and Baluchistan, who will be able to access comprehensive diagnostic and therapeutic cancer facilities under one roof, entirely free of charge for those who cannot afford to pay.

In line with its mission to ensure access to the poor, over 75 percent to 80 percent of cancer patients will receive free cancer care at Karachi facility. Construction of the hospital is expected to be completed over a three-year time-frame, at an estimated cost of Rs 6.2 billion, with the hospital planned to open in December 2021 as a fully-functional cancer hospital with all the essential clinical and support departments one would expect of a facility of this nature. These will include Medical Oncology, Pediatric Oncology, Clinical and Radiation Oncology, Surgical Oncology, Anaesthesia, Radiology, Internal Medicine, Nuclear Medicine and Pathology. The hospital will be equipped with the latest cancer care technology, including state of the art diagnostic facilities, radiation treatment planning and delivery systems and will have 47 outpatient examination room, a 66 bed outpatient chemotherapy facility, 175 inpatient rooms, sixteen operation theatres and 24 intensive care units.

The budget for the year 2019 is Rs 13.5 billion, a sum which will not only allow the Hospital to continue to provide free cancer treatment to over 75 percent to 80 percent of all cancer patients seen in Peshawar and Lahore, but also to fund the construction of the Clinical Tower in Lahore, the development of surgical services in Peshawar and the construction of the hospital in Karachi. As in the past, about half of this is expected to be met by generous donations and zakat of people across from the world. This hospital is a substantial symbol of a son’s tribute to his mother and with its decade’s long performance, now it has become the symbol of hope for thousands of mothers.

Published in Daily Times, December 29^th 2018.