Daily Times

Construction work for the new Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (SKMCH&RC), Karachi is underway at full pace and the project is expected to be commissioned at a total cost of Rs. 16.4 billion. Construction is progressing according to the planned project time-lines and the new hospital located in DHA City is planned to open in 2023. The structural work on the lower ground, ground and first floor are close to completion. The lower ground floor will house the clinical and radiation oncology department, which has ten bunkers for radiation machines and the department of nuclear medicine. The radiology department, the outpatient clinics, the emergency assessment unit, pharmacy and cafeteria will be located on the ground floor and the first floor will house the chemotherapy bays, the bone marrow transplant unit, the endoscopy unit, the pathology lab and the blood bank.

The new Shaukat Khanum Hospital will be commissioned at a total cost of Rs. 16.4 billion. It is expected to complete in less than three years. In terms of constructed area and services, this will be Pakistan’s biggest tertiary care cancer hospital. It will hugely enhance the country’s capacity to treat cancer.

According to the Global Cancer Observatory report, there are over 170,000 new cancer cases recorded in Pakistan each year and the huge number of new cancer patients means that Shaukat Khanum Hospitals in Lahore and in Peshawar are able to serve only a proportion of those suffering from cancer in Pakistan. The treatment of cancer is often a long and arduous process, with many patients having to make repeated, and expensive, trips over long distances in order to seek treatment. Successful completion of treatment is followed by several years of further visits for follow-up. It is for this reason that the second Shaukat Khanum Hospital was constructed in Peshawar, and this is why the third one is being built in Karachi. Construction of the third SKMCH&RC will hugely enhance the country’s capacity to treat cancer and provide access to cancer care for ever-increasing numbers of patients.

At SKMCH&RC, Karachi, patients will receive state-of-the-art cancer treatment based on the principles of quality and equality, irrespective of their ability to pay.

Even during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, SKMCH&RC remains committed to bringing state-of-the-art and comprehensive cancer care closer to patients, especially for the people of Sindh and Southern Balochistan. The third Hospital, at one million square feet of constructed area, will be twice the size of our hospital in Lahore. It is planned to open as a fully-functional cancer hospital, with all clinical disciplines in place, in 2023. It is being constructed based on SKMT’s experience of running two tertiary care cancer centres for over two decades, according to international healthcare standards. It will be equipped with the latest in medical technology and staffed by highly-trained professionals. The new hospital will continue the legacy of SKMCH&RC in Lahore and Peshawar, and all patients will receive the best possible curative and palliative therapy, irrespective of their ability to pay.

You can participate in building the Shaukat Khanum Hospital in Karachi from anywhere in the World by donating Rs. 100 for a brick. You can become a Founding Donor against a contribution of Rs. 500,000 or dedicate a room in honour or memory of a loved one.

The inspiration to build Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (SKMCH&RC) came after Imran Khan’s mother, Mrs. Shaukat Khanum, succumbed to cancer in 1985. During his mother’s illness, he also witnessed the plight of underprivileged cancer patients in the hospitals of Pakistan and deeply felt the need for a specialized cancer centre in his country. Being a developing country where the majority do not have access to even elementary health care facilities, cancer was considered the ultimate symbol of hopelessness and almost certain death. After receiving overwhelming support from generous donors, SKMCH&RC in Lahore opened on December 29, 1994.

The Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust aims to build a series of hospitals in various cities of Pakistan to bring cancer care closer to the patients.

Since nearly 30% of patients in Lahore came from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and adjoining areas, the second hospital was opened in Peshawar on December 29, 2015.