SHAUKAT Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre started its operation in Peshawar on Dec 30. The hospital, completed at a cost of Rs 3bn is spread over six acres donated by the then ANP government to Imran Khan in 2013. It is a landmark achievement that willfacilitate the treatment and research of a complicated disease like cancer.
Cancer is proving to be a deadly disease whose cure has not been fully discovered.
Moreover, the available treatment is very costly and the poor people hardly afford it.
Pakistan records between 150,000 and 200,000 new cancer patients every year but only a few thousand of them get the required medical treatment owing to limited medical facilities in the country. As stated by the chief medical officer, Peshawar, Dr Asim Yousaf, Pakistan requires at least 20 more cancer hospitals around the size of SKMCH to cater to the patients` load.
The governments of Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan shouldrise above political expediency and donatelandforthe construction of cancer hospitals in their respective provinces.
The well-off people, especially overseas Pakistanis, should donate generously for this noble cause so that many precious lives can be saved.
