Daily Times

PESHAWAR: A six-and-a-half years old cancer patient from Kohat Tuesday opened the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre in Peshawar.

Fakhir Afridi cut the ribbon along with Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust Board of Governors Chairman Imran Khan to officially make the eight-storey, state-of-the-art hospital operative for cancer patients from KP, FATA as well as Afghanistan.

Speaking on the occasion, Imran Khan said it was the happiest day of his life. “I couldn’t sleep last night because of the happiness. Constructing a new hospital at a cost of Rs 4 billion at a time when the annual deficit of the one in Lahore is Rs 3.5 billion looked impossible. It’s not less than a miracle,” he said.

Imran said that it was during his mother’s cancer treatment at the Mayo Hospital in Lahore that he decided to build a cancer hospital where the poor could get quality treatment for free. “I saw an old man showing the prescriptions to a doctor asking if he had purchased all the medicine. Upon inquiring, I came to know the old man from Nowshera would do labour work during the day and be with his cancer suffering brother at the night,” he said.

The second guiding principle, according to Imran, was during his mother’s treatment in the UK where they were getting paid-treatment next to a British patient who was getting the same treatment free of charge. “I wanted to have the same system for the patients in Pakistan. I decided there that all patients who couldn’t afford to pay would be treated free of charge,” he said.

Recalling the early days, Imran said that 19 out of 20 doctors he had gathered in Lahore told him it was not possible to build a cancer hospital in Pakistan. “They believed it was impractical to run a cancer hospital that provides free treatment. Even the doctors I met in the United States believed that no more than five percent patients could be treated for free if I had to run a hospital successfully. Only Dr Nawsherwan Burki, my cousin, believed it was possible,” he said.

“I have been collecting donations for 26 years now. Last month I asked for Rs 800 million for hospital equipment and the generous people of Pakistan gave me Rs 900 million,” he said. Imran announced that he would sell a plot worth Rs 50 million and donate the money to Peshawar SKMCH. “I would give Rs 30 million for a unit in the name of my father. The remaining 20 million will be donated to the hospital in the name of my sons, Suleman and Qasim,” he said.

Imran said that every patient will be given equal importance at the hospital. “No one can influence the hospital’s policy of equal treatment. Patients will get same treatment regardless of their ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds,” he said.

Dr Faisal Sultan, chief executive officer of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, thanked the audience, most of whom were the founding donors, for attending the ceremony. “Cancer patients from across the country visit Shaukat Khanum Hospital in Lahore for treatment without discrimination. Some 75% patients get free treatment and the generous people of Pakistan have been funding that for the past two decades. But one hospital is not enough for the cancer patients in the country,” he said.

He said that a walk-in clinic was working in Peshawar since long. However, the hospital management decided to establish a fully equipped facility as 25 percent patients visiting the facility at Lahore were from KP and FATA. “Nearly 40,000 patients from KP and its adjacent tribal areas have been registered at Lahore for cancer treatment till date,” Dr Faisal said. Dr Asim Yusuf, chief medical officer of SKMCH & RC, said that the number of new cancer patients in Pakistan was 150,000 to 200,000 each year. “We are currently able to treat 9,000 new patients per year. The Peshawar facility is 33 percent larger than Lahore in capacity and covered area. It will be treating 15,000 new patients every year. The hospital will be able to meet the needs of cancer patients for the next 30-40 years,” he said.

In the first phase, the Peshawar hospital will be equipped with chemotherapy department, out-patient clinic, in-patient unit, pathology and pharmacy departments. A seven-bed latest intensive care unit is in final phase of completion. The X-Ray, CT scanner and paediatric unit will be ready in four months while other facilities will be functional within one year.