Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has approved release of $7 million for completion of under construction nine-storey building of Surgical Complex of Cyberknife at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) and issued directives for establishment of Cyberkife Satellite Center in Sukkur.

The CM was presiding over a meeting of JPMC Cyberknife and Patients Aid Foundation here at CM House. The meeting was attended by PSCM Sajid jamal Abro, Secretary Finance Hassan Naqvi, head of Radiology, Cyberknife Robotic Radiosurgery & Oncology JPMC Professor Dr Tariq Maehmood, patients' foundation Chief Mushtaq Chappra and Shabir Diwan.

Professor Tariq Mahmood briefing the chief minister said Karachi has 67,000 new cancer patients every year. Cancer patients from 131 cities of the country were being treated at Cyberknife facility and now it was known as `Magic Knife' in Pakistan, he said and added that another Cyberknife unit was being installed at JPMC at the cost of $4.1 million and the work would be completed by the end of 2019.

At Cyberknife, 24 cancer patients are treated every day while at JPMC Cancer ward 120 patients and at OPD 200 patients are being given free of cost treatment. The chief minister said his government would contribute $700,000 for Cyberknife units by 2020.

The chief minister was told that a Tomotherapy project was also being installed at the cost of $4 million. There were 16 machines of Tomotherapy working all over the world and it would be 17 facilities at JPMC. The chief minister assured the Cybeknife and Patient Aid Foundation representatives that his government would support them in every step taken for the treatment of cancer patients.

Mushtaq Chapra of patients' foundation said Farheen & Ashraf Mukaty Jinnah Food Complex was being established where free meals would be offered to all attendants. Talking about 2019-20 projects, the chief minister was told that Department of Neuromedicines & Stroke Unit was being established. Work on Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences was also in progress.

Professor Tariq Mahmood said Surgical Complex (SC) with a facility of 2000 beds was being constructed at the cost of $35 million. The chief minister pledged $7 million for completion of the under-construction Surgical Complex and directed secretary finance to manage the funds. The chief minister was told that cancer patients from 12 different countries including US, Canada, Afghanistan, UAE and other countries are being treated at the facility. The chief minister directed Cyberknife Unit chief to make necessary arrangements to establish Satellite of Cyberknife unit in Sukkur so that patients from Northern areas of the province, Balochistan and Punjab could be provided treatment there.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019