PESHAWAR, May 14: Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan said on Wednesday that he planned to build cancer hospitals in Karachi and Peshawar.

Speaking to doctors and health workers at the Emergency Satellite Hospital (ESH), Nahaqi, he said the number of cancer patients was increasing in the NWFP and he would build a hospital here to provide free treatment them.

Mr Khan expressed concern over lack of treatment facilities at public sector hospitals and said the poor people suffered immensely because of their inability to pay for their treatment.

“In Essakhel, Mianwali district, a beautiful hospital constructed in 1966 is yet to be made functional and the patients, especially pregnant women, die before being shifted to the district headquarters hospital,” he lamented and said this also resulted in loss of resources.

According to him, a cancer patient had to spend Rs250,000 on treatment, which was out of the reach of the common people.

In the United Kingdom there were 50 cancer hospitals whereas the United States had 250 such hospitals where people got free treatment under health insurance schemes, he said.

Mr Khan appreciated the devotion of doctors and health workers at the ESH for providing health-care facilities to the people of the rural area.

Chairman of the management board of the hospital Gulman Sher Afridi said it was being run by the Abaseen Foundation under the public-private partnership scheme with the provincial government.

The hospital’s honorary director, Dr Mukhtiar Zaman Afridi, said 200,000 people were dependent on it for their health needs.

He said free medical camps were arranged by the hospital for eye ailments.

WATER PROBLEM: Residents in University Town area have been facing scarcity of water and those wanting to lodge complaints with the relevant officials are humiliated.