Construction work for the new Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Karachi is underway at full pace and the project is expected to be commissioned in less than three years, at a total cost of Rs. 13 billion. In a press-briefing organised in this regard, Dr Muhammed Aasim Yusuf, the Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centres (SKMCH&RC) in Pakistan, shared details on this project. The new Hospital will be located in DHA City on twenty acres of land. It will open as a fully-functional cancer hospital, with all clinical disciplines in place, and equipped with the latest technology, including state-of-the-art diagnostic facilities as well as the latest in treatment planning and delivery systems. SKMCH&RC in Karachi, at one million square feet of constructed area, will be twice the size of the hospital in Lahore, and will have forty-seven outpatient examination rooms, a sixty-nine bed chemotherapy facility, around three-hundred inpatient beds, sixteen operation theatres, and twenty-four intensive care beds.
Explaining the need for more specialised cancer centres in Pakistan, Dr Aasim Yusuf said, “There are over a hundred and seventy thousand new cancer cases in Pakistan each year and while the SKMCH&RC in Lahore and Peshawar continue to provide financially supported treatment to over 75 percent of cancer patients admitted for treatment each year, the huge number of new cancer patients means that we are able to serve only a proportion of those suffering from cancer in Pakistan. The construction of the third SKMCH&RC in Karachi will hugely enhance the country’s capacity to treat cancer and provide access to cancer care for ever-increasing numbers of patients. SKMCH&RC, Karachi, will serve all of Sindh, as well as Southern Baluchistan, and will help to bring cancer care closer to our patients”. He further stated, “We are committed to providing the best possible care to all our cancer patients and in line with this vision, we plan to equip the Karachi hospital not only with CT, MRI and PET-CT scanners, but also with a PET-MR system, which will be a new form of hybrid imaging technology and a first for Pakistan.”
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Pakistanis from across the globe stand united against the scourge of cancer. The generosity of Pakistanis was evident at a virtual fundraising event held recently in aid of the new hospital in which pledges of Rs. 650 million (Rs 65 crore) were recorded.
Dr Yusuf acknowledged the contribution of all donors and said, “We are grateful for the unstinting support of our donors, which is more important to us than ever before, given the unprecedented times that we are all passing through, as we grapple with the many devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The new hospital is an opportunity for the public to create a lasting legacy by donating for bricks every month or by dedicating rooms in memory of loved ones. Your support helped us build two state-of-the-art cancer centres in Pakistan and we are confident that your support will help us to build the third hospital in Karachi, inshallah.”
