The inauguration of the Shaukat Khanum Diagnostic Centre and Clinic in Karachi, in 2010, was the first step towards bringing cancer care facilities closer to the people of Karachi. In continuation of this vision, the Trust has now embarked on its latest project, to establish Pakistan’s third Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (SKMCH&RC), in Karachi. The new project in Karachi was officially inaugurated at a groundbreaking ceremony, held on the construction site in the DHA City on December 29, 2016. In keeping with our tradition, the groundbreaking was performed by a cancer patient, Waleed Ahmed from Jamshoro. The Chairman of the Trust, Mr. Imran Khan, members of the Board of Governors of SKMT, senior management of the Hospital, and a large number of donors and guests attended this event and pledged their support.
The treatment of cancer is often a long process, and many patients from Southern Pakistan cannot afford to make repeated physically, emotionally, and financially demanding trips to seek treatment at our existing facilities in Lahore and Peshawar. Therefore, in line with our mission to act as a model institution to alleviate the suffering of cancer patients of the region through the application of modern methods of curative and palliative therapy, Pakistan’s third Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre will be built in Karachi. Here, we hope to continue our tradition of providing the best possible cancer care to all our patients, irrespective of their ability to pay. The construction of a comprehensive cancer centre in Karachi will not only provide state-of-the-art cancer care facilities to the people of Sindh and adjoining areas, but it will also help to enhance healthcare standards and to develop training and employment opportunities in the wider region as a whole.
In line with its mission to ensure access to the poor, over 75% of our cancer patients receive free cancer care and this will continue in Karachi. We expect to complete construction of the Hospital over a three-year time-frame, at an estimated cost of Rs. 16.4 billion, with the Hospital planned to open in December 2023 as a fully-functional cancer hospital with all the essential clinical and support departments one would expect of a facility of this nature. These will include Medical Oncology, Paediatric Oncology, Clinical and Radiation Oncology, Surgical Oncology, Radiology, Anaesthesiology, Internal Medicine, Nuclear Medicine, Pathology and Medical Physics. The Hospital will be equipped with the latest cancer care technology, including state of the art diagnostic facilities, radiation treatment planning and delivery systems, and will have forty-seven outpatient examination room, a sixty-nine bed outpatient chemotherapy facility, two hundred and eighty-eight inpatient beds, sixteen operation theatres, and twenty-four intensive care beds.
This new project represents an excellent opportunity for supporters of SKMCH&RC to dedicate rooms in the memory of a loved one. Please continue to help us, as you have always done, and give generously, to bring about a new dawn of hope for people suffering from cancer in Karachi, in Sindh and Balochistan, and in all of Pakistan.
For further information and guidance on how to donate, please contact us on 0800 11 555 or email us at fundraising@skm.org.pk