The Year at a Glance

Once again, the past year has been an eventful one for the medical division. The hospital recorded a further increase in the level of activity in all clinical areas. The Radiology and Nuclear Medicine Departments were jointly successful in commissioning Pakistan's first state-of-the-art cyclotron and PET-CT scanner in February 2010.
The advent of PET-CT imaging has revolutionised the management of cancer and is, today, considered essential for the diagnosis and treatment of many forms of cancer. The PET-CT system cost US $5 million to purchase, install and commission. Over 1500 PET-CT studies were performed at the hospital in 2010.
In order to manage the ever-increasing clinical workload at the hospital, construction work on a new inpatient unit started in early 2010. The completion of the first phase in the coming weeks will result in the addition of 46 inpatient beds. In 2012, when the second phase is completed, it will double our current inpatient capacity.
The Karachi Diagnostic Centre & Clinic (KDC&C) was inaugurated on January 31, 2010. Our Collection Centres and a Pathology Laboratory in Karachi, as well as the Karachi Walk-In Clinic, represent tangible evidence of our commitment to opening a new Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital in Karachi, in our role as one of the largest national charities in Pakistan. In October 2010, we inaugurated Medical Oncology services at the KDC&C. The centre is staffed with two fully-qualified, US-trained, Medical Oncologists, aided by junior medical and ancillary health staff. A number of patients from Karachi and its surrounding areas are now able to receive first class cancer treatment at the Karachi facility, irrespective of their ability to pay.
The Bone Marrow Transplantation Programme continues apace, with a number of adults and children successfully undergoing autologous bone marrow transplantation in 2011. A number of initiatives have been taken to manage the ever increasing cancer workload. These include the augmentation of consultant medical staff and we were delighted to welcome a number of new consultants into the family of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre this year.
The hospital continues to have a strong commitment to research into the causes and treatment of cancer. The Research Division, incorporating the Basic Science Laboratories, the Clinical Research Office and the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and the Cancer Registry, has had a busy and successful year, with thirteen peer reviewed publications in international scientific journals providing evidence of the fruits of their labours. The hospital continues to fund and support the Punjab Cancer Registry, the first population-based cancer registry in the province. Our scientists continue to work in collaboration with colleagues at other institutions within the country as well as overseas on a number of basic science projects.
Our affiliation with the University of Bradford (UB) in the UK, for whom we operate as an external 'franchise', is proceeding very well. We were delighted to organise a convocation ceremony for our first graduating batch of students, who were awarded their bachelor's degree in Diagnostic Radiography by the Chancellor of the University of Bradford, Mr Imran Khan. Also in attendance were Professor Jeff Lucas, the Pro-Vice Chancellor, and distinguished Pakistani scientist, Professor Ata-ur-Rehman, who was awarded an honorary doctorate by the university in recognition of his services to science in Pakistan.
The hospital has always faced capacity constraints, and has continued to rationalise its patient induction policy, striving as it does to induct the largest possible number of indigent patients that it can effectively treat to the very high standards it has set for itself.
We continue to raise the bar for quality patient care in Pakistan, never forgetting that the core principle on which we work is that of quality and equality, trying to ensure that we provide the best possible cancer care to all our patients, irrespective of their ability to pay.
SKMCH&RC is the story of success of the collective will of our people and affirmation of some of the greatest positives of our society. We invite you to join us in continuing to build and support this national institution that has the potential to change not only the medical but also the social fabric of our country.