PESHAWAR: There is no end to the misery of over 4,000 registered cancer patients in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa due to a delay by the health department in the signing of a memorandum of understanding with a leading pharmaceutical firm for the renewal of contract to supply medicines to be given away free of charge.

Health officials insisted that the department was in the process of the MoU signing with the Novartis Pharmaceuticals under which Rs1 billion would be spent on distribution of free medicines to cancer patients.

They said the medicine provision to patients would resume in three weeks.

The officials said the ‘Free Cancer Treatment of Cancer Patients’ project was launched at the oncology department of the Hayatabad Medical Complex, Peshawar, for patients of blood cancer in 2011, while the people registered for it received free medicines on a monthly basis after investigation and examinations.

They added that the programme covered all types of cancers in 2016 with the private pharmaceutical company bearing 90 per cent cost of the programme and health department the rest.

Officials promise resolution of issue in three weeks

The officials said the programme had so far benefited 9,000 patients, including 3,800 suffering from blood cancer, at the cost of Rs35 billion.

They said of the patients, 65 per cent had either recovered or received medicines to ‘stay alive with improved lifestyles’.

The officials said the project expired in June this year suspending the provision of free medicines to 4,500 patients. They said the treatment cost over Rs100,000 a month that was unaffordable for most patients.

The officials said the government had merged the HMC’s Free Cancer Treatment of Cancer Patients project with the Sehat Card Plus scheme, while regional hospitals were included in it to ensure that patients don’t visit Peshawar from their respective districts to obtain free medicines.

They said cancer patients in Bannu, Malakand, Swat and Abbottabad would start receiving free medicines and services in three weeks after the signing of the MoU with the private pharmaceutical firm.

The officials said the government was in the process of the MoU signing for the resumption of the programme.

They said currently, cancer patients received free surgical and chemotherapy services in Peshawar, Abbottabad, Swat, Bannu, Islamabad and Karachi under the SCP.

The officials said the cancer programme-SCP merger would enable ‘non- hospitalised’ blood cancer patients to get free medicines.

They said the SCP had so far covered only hospitalised patients, but in future, they would be given free oral drugs as well.

Oncologists said there were two types of treatment required by cancer patients and one of them was radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgery requiring patient’s admission but the other was oral treatment, which didn’t require hospitalisation. They said both treatments were very expensive.

The oncologists said the HMC cancer project had been very good for patients, where they received free treatment but the people had to come to Peshawar every month to undergo follow-ups and get medicines. They said it was difficult for the people living away from the provincial capital.

Officials said Prof Abid Jamil, head of the oncology department at the HMC, who pioneered the project, had informed that department to appoint a focal person before the end of his tenure in June.

They, however, said the department appointed a focal person a few days ago, which could delay the resumption of the programme and free medication of the people.

The officials said both hospitals had already empanelled by the SCP for cash services to the 10.7 million population of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

They said there were 1,100 empanelled hospitals, including 203 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where people could get free services on their respective national identity cards.

The officials said hospitals had been asked to start oncology services.

They said oncologists had already been appointed to the Ayub Teaching Hospital Abbottabad and Khyber Teaching Hospital Peshawar, where the patients would go and get medicines.

The officials, however, said it would take time to complete the process of bidding and enable the already patients getting treatment.

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2022