Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan has said that successive rulers had deviated from the vision of making Pakistan a true "Islamic Welfare State" after the demise of the father of the nation, Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. He expressed these views speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre Karachi, here on Thursday. As per the policy and tradition, a child patient at Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital from Sindh performed the groundbreaking as a special guest.
Imran Khan, Chairman, Board of Governors, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust, board's members, hospital's senior management, well-wishers, donors and celebrities were also present at this extraordinary event. They gave generous response when Imran Khan made public appeal for donation for the project.
Speaking on the occasion Imran Khan expressed gratitude to Allah who granted him and others a great opportunity to gather to witness the effort and achievement, which, he said, only be described as a 'dream come true.' He said building a cancer hospital for the needy people was his dream as treatment of this deadly disease was expensive and out of the reach of the poor.
"This dream has come true after several years of hard work, determination, perseverance and focus on achieving this noble goal," he said. Khan expressed hope that the Karachi hospital would begin its operation by December 29, 2019. But, the onus was mainly on people of Karachi who always remained ahead in philanthropy and donations as compared to other parts of the country. He said that to give donation generously was in the genes of Karachiites as they had a big heart for poor. He said Karachiites donated tremendously in the past for the construction and running of SKMT Lahore and Peshawar hospitals. He said confidently people of Karachi would own Karachi hospital as well and build it single-handedly. He said he had faced more problems in the construction phase of the hospital in Lahore but the nation's response to his call for donations was extremely remarkable in making one of the world's best cancer hospitals.
Imran Khan whole-heartedly praised the DHA administration for awarding 20 acres precious land at the prime location in the DHA City for the hospital and hoped the people of Sindh province and adjoining areas would get benefits from the hospital. He hoped that the DHA administration would continue to support the Shaukat Khanum Hospital in the future also. He said about 75 percent of the patients had been treated free of cost at the two hospitals since its first facility began in Lahore in 1994.The hospital had spent R522 billion on the diagnosis and treatment of the cancer patients so far, he said.
The new hospital in Karachi will make comprehensive cancer care accessible for poor cancer patients and bring hope of life closer to Sindh and adjoining areas. Two state-of-the-art Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospitals in Lahore and Peshawar are already providing cancer care to the indigent cancer patients.
In his welcome note, Dr Faisal Sultan, Chief Executive of the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust (SKMT), said the new cancer hospital in the most populous city of Pakistan would surely enhance and raise the healthcare standards in the region by providing opportunities of training and career to the locals as well, in line with the mission of the hospital. The SKMT has also built a research centre in every facility to find out local solutions and research in the cancer treatment.
Highlighting the details of the Karachi Hospital project, he said, the new facility was planned to have Operating Rooms, an Intensive Care Unit (ICU), a chemo-bay facility, inpatient rooms, and outpatient clinics, initially. The Hospital will have nine clinical departments namely Medical Oncology, Paediatric Oncology, Radiation Oncology with IMRT Linear Accelerators, brachytherapy, and CT simulation services, Surgical Oncology, Anaesthesia, Radiology with CT scanners, MRI scanners, X-Ray, Fluoroscopy, Ultrasound, mammography scanners and a PET CT scanner with cyclotron, Internal Medicine, Nuclear Medicine with SPECT-CT gamma cameras and Pathology offering haematology, clinical chemistry, microbiology, cytology, and a blood bank including NAT testing. This enormous facility, would no doubt, open up opportunities for the oncologists, doctors, nurses and health professionals to get training in the management, diagnosis and the treatment of the cancer patients.
Administrator of the DHA City Brigadier Hassan Ali Shahid lauded the services of SKMT and Imran Khan for services in health care. According to the management of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust, this comprehensive cancer centre will be built at the cost of Rs 4.5 billion. The first phase will take two and a half years to complete and the multi-level facility is expected to be operational on December 29, 2019. The facility will gradually scale up to the level of a fully functional cancer care hospital for the people residing in South of Pakistan.