KARACHI: Lamenting the lack of quality health services in the country, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust chairperson Imran Khan said that the country’s rulers had lost sight of the founding fathers’ vision for the country.

He was addressing the ground-breaking ceremony of the third Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (SKMCH&RC) on Thursday at DHA City, Karachi. Waleed Ahmed, a young cancer patient, performed the ground breaking as the stage lit up and fireworks went off all around it.

The hospital is scheduled to open for patients on Dec 29, 2019.

PTI chief addresses ground-breaking ceremony of third Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre

“When I first thought about building the biggest cancer hospital of Pakistan and offering free treatment to 70 per cent of its patients, I called 20 senior doctors to discuss the idea with them. All except one said it was a pipe dream. They said that Punjab had also planned to build such a hospital but had been unsuccessful in doing so. Well, how could they have succeeded with Nawaz Sharif as Punjab’s chief minister back then?” the PTI chief said.

He shared that he had realised how hard it was for the common person to get treatment for cancer here when his mother was diagnosed with the disease in early 1980s. “Cancer treatment costs between Rs800,000 and Rs1.5 million and if there is a complication, the cost can exceed Rs10 million.”

Recalling the time when he began raising funds for the hospital, Mr Khan said the experience had helped reveal the true nature of people.

“I started out by going to the elitist Aitchison College for funding but got only encouragement from them. I had the most help from school children, who drove everyone, including their parents, crazy in collecting funds for the hospital. Some had even sold their school books to raise money,” he said, adding that the hospital was made with goodwill and the desire to help the common person.

“When I was in England for my mother’s treatment, the woman in the bed next to her was being treated through the National Health Service. In comparison my mother was a paying patient but the hospital treated both of them the same way. I envisioned a similar service at Shaukat Khanum Memorial. Today, you will not find a private or VIP room at SKMCH&RC. All people are treated equally and get the best state-of-the-art treatment,” he shared.

“In Lahore, we treat 75 per cent of the patients for free ... we also have a guest house for the patients’ relatives to stay in,” he said, adding that since Dec 29, 1994 when the first SKMCH&RC opened, the hospital has spent some Rs26 billion to provide free treatment to patients. “This is not counting what we spent on construction, expansion and equipment. There was a Rs4bn deficit but that, too, was covered through goodwill,” he said.

The PTI chief recalled when he had lost the 1997 elections and funds for the hospital had started drying up. “Yet we didn’t lose hope. Now we have a second SKMCH&RC in Peshawar and the third will be built here in Karachi,” he said, adding that nothing could stop a person from achieving their dreams if they had the vision and will to achieve it.

Commenting on the state of healthcare in the country, Mr Khan said, “We cannot even feed our children. Because of this, 45pc of the children here have stunted growth. We should strive to make this a nation which can help its people and save its children from malnutrition,” he said.

Sharing details of the third SKMCH&RC, Karachi DHA administrator Brigadier Shahid Hassan Ali said it would be built on 20 acres of land allotted to the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust by the Defence Housing Authority. A memorandum of understanding has been signed in this regard.

Mr Ali said the Education City at DHA City, where the hospital is to be built, offered an array of education and health facilities. The location for the hospital, he said, was ideal as it was accessible for Karachi along with urban and rural Sindh as well as lower Punjab.

SKMCH&RC’s CEO Dr Faisal Sultan stressed the need for similar hospitals in the country. “We diagnose up to 150,000 cancer patients each year so there is a demand for such hospitals,” he said, adding that the Peshawar hospital will soon be able to manage the load of patients in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Sharing details of the hospital’s income sources, Dr Sultan said around 50pc of the hospital’s funds came from paying patients and the fees for diagnostic tests. He said the zakat they get was used to treat poor patients and was not invested.

He said if anyone wanted to donate to the hospital, they could be a founding donor for the Karachi hospital or offer funding for the construction of a room or to buy equipment. They could also give monthly donations or sponsor a patient.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2016