MULTAN, Feb 9: Many cancer patients have left their treatment half way because the Rs3 million grant from the Zakat fund has not been released.

The local Zakat council has approved the grant, says Dr Amjad Aziz Khan, the director of the Multan Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Radiotherapy (MINAR), a subsidiary of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC).

Talking to APP here, Dr Khan said: “south Punjab is an abode to mostly poor people, particularly rural populace, so tests and radiotherapy treatment of most patients are done free of cost at the institute. But the provision of medicines to them remains a problem.

“The poor patients are helped from the Zakat fund which the institute received to the tune of around Rs3 million annually. This time the grant has not been released so far, although it has been approved by the local Zakat council.

“The poor segments can hardly afford the costly chemotherapy treatment for long and left the medication half way.”

He said that around 10,000 patients, suffering from different types of cancer, are registered every year at the MINAR. About 13,000 old patients are also given chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment.