ISLAMABAD, Oct 30: The Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) is set to establish a Rs2 billion ‘Breast screening clinic’ with the financial assistance of the social welfare department, Dawn has learnt.

It will be an advisory clinic but will also be providing surgical and chemotherapy services.

At present, the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC)’s Nuclear Oncology and Radiotherapy Institute (Nori) is the major cancer treatment facility in the federal capital.

However, it is unable to cope with the increasing number of patients coming from different parts of the country.

According to an official at the hospital, Nori is catering to the needs of over 450 cancer patients daily. These patients are given consultancy and chemotherapy treatment, he added.

The official said Nori was facing the load of patients from as far as D.I. Khan, Kohat, Bannu, Mianwali, Multan, Azad Kashmir and even Gilgit-Baltistan.

Pims Executive Director Prof Riaz Warraich told Dawn on Tuesday that a technical team of experts had already been constituted for establishment of the clinic.

He said after getting the funds from the social welfare department, work on construction of a building for the clinic would be started.

It will be completed in six months, he added.

At present, there is one oncologist at Pims but due to the growing number of cancer patients, especially women, the government has decided to set up the special clinic, he added.

A source said the Pims oncology department had not given any attention on expanding or improving the services for the last many years.

He said the oncologist was assisted by hardly two medical officers, adding the department had also limited resources to manage the patients.

He added that about 30 patients visited the oncology OPD daily.

Prof Warraich said a lot of women in Pakistan, specifically in the twin cities, were facing health threats from breast cancer mainly because they often did not undergo screening tests.

It may be noted that Pink Ribbon, a not-for-profit and non-governmental initiative of the women empowerment group, has declared that “Pakistan has the highest rate of breast cancer amongst all Asian countries.”

It added: “The numbers are alarming as every ninth woman in Pakistan is at high risk of getting breast cancer at some point in her life, leading to over 40,000 deaths every year.”

Pink Ribbon Pakistan conducted a one-year study among women visiting Benazir Bhutto Hospital in Rawalpindi with breast-related complications.

It said the study was conducted to find out the level of awareness about breast cancer.

Among 400 patients with a breast problem, 84 (21 per cent) had breast cancer of which 73.81 per cent were in stages III or IV, it added.

“Those who were treated were totally ignorant of their breast cancer-related problems,” said the organisation.

However, Prof Warraich expressed the hope that the new facility would be a major relief for such women, “as it will also be conducting general surgical procedures to remove lumps.”

He said the hospital had state-of-the art chemotherapy machinery and would also provide chemo services at the clinic in future. Besides, he added, the clinic would continue getting assistance from Nori.

“We want to keep Nori management on board since our main task will be screening, and surgical procedures and chemotherapy services will also be managed by Nori,” he maintained.

Asked about the model of management at the clinic since funds for the construction of the building were to come from the social welfare department, he said: “The administrative or governance issue is still under discussion with the social welfare department.

“However, we will like to have an administrative role since it would help us manage the facility in a better way.”