KARACHI: Extremely expensive medicines are putting breast cancer treatment beyond the reach of most patients in Pakistan, while late diagnosis remains the biggest hurdle in saving their lives, warned leading cancer specialists on the opening day of a two-day conference on Saturday.

They also shared the difficulties patients faced in arranging medicines and completing treatment even after diagnosis. High prices of cancer drugs, problems in their availability and `unnecessary official hurdles` needed to be addressed to improve patients` chances of recovery, they added.

The event titled BreastCon 2026 was organised by Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) at a local hotel during the Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

The conference focuses on improving breast cancer treatment in countries with limited health facilities and financial resources.

According to the data shared during the event, Pakistan recorded an estimated 43,721 new breast cancer cases and 20,039 deaths from the disease in 2024.

Breast cancer accounts for 44 per cent of newly diagnosed cancers among women.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Tariq Mahmood heading CyberKnife and Tomotherapy at JPMC saidPakistan had qualified and trained surgeons for breast cancer surgery, but costly medicines remained a serious problem.

Patients also faced delays in getting chemotherapy, radiotherapy and necessary tests, he added.

He pointed out that some cancer medicines were available at lower prices in India and other countries but were sold at higher prices in Pakistan.

`Official rules and bureaucratic hurdles also create difficulties in ensuring the availability of quality medicines at reasonable prices. The relevant authorities should remove unnecessary obstacles and facilitate pharmaceutical companies so that patients can get cheaper medicines,` he stressed.

According to him, Pakistani companies are already exporting medicines to different countries and there is a potential to produce quality medicines at affordable rates locally.

The increasing cost of immunotherapy, he pointed out, had added to the problems of patients who already struggled to meet treatment expenses.

He said JPMC provided breast cancer surgery and chemotherapy, while several medicines were arranged through the hospital`s budget and support from different organisations. However, patients had to seek financial assistance from other sources for some costly medicines.

Prof Mahmood also talked about the new breast radiotherapy facility being developed at JPMC that would have a capacity to treat 160 patients free of cost daily, taking the hospital`s overall radiotherapy capacity to around 400 patients a day.

`Modern techniques can help reduce unnecessary radiation exposure to the heart, while selected patients with early breast cancer can receive five radiotherapy sessions over one week after surgery. Patients from 24 countries and 183 Pakistani cities have benefited fromthe centre`s cancer services,` he told the audience.

Conference organiser Dr Syeda Zarreen Raza of JPMC said the main question was how to follow established treatment guidelines with limited resources.

She said that this conference aimed at bringing surgeons, cancer specialists and other doctors together to improve treatment.

`Regular meetings of specialists from different departments, digital patient records and an improved breast clinic are among the measures being worked on at JPMC. Research and discussions at the conference should help doctors find practical solutions to the problems faced by patients,` she added.

JPMC Executive Director Prof Dr Khalid Sher said modern cancer treatment should also be available to patients who cannot afford it. People facing financial difficulties must benefit from advances in treatment, he said, stressing that available resources should be used to help the maximum number of patients.

He said awareness, appropriate screening and early diagnosis were essential for saving lives. Surgeons, oncologists, radiologists, pathologists, nurses and other health professionals should jointly decide the best treatment for each patient, he added.

Dr Rufina Soomro, a breast surgeon at Liaquat National Hospital, urged women to get themselves examined and seek timely medical advice.

`Treatment costs depend on the disease stage and medicines required, while early diagnosis can help prevent complications,` she said.

Speaking on the sidelines of the conference, Saqib Farooqui, a representative of PharmEvo, said the company had introduced modern cancer medicines and the aim was to improve treatment outcomes and the quality oflife ofcancer patients.

Other speakers on the opening-day programme included Dr M. Nouman Zahir of Ziauddin Hospital; Dr Sadaf Jafferbhoy of University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust, UK; and Dr Sehrish Abrar of Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation.