KARACHI - Construction of Pakistan’s third and largest Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (SKMCH&RC) Karachi has started which will be completed in December 2021.

The hospital’s management has organised a project-site visit and press briefing for print and electronic media personnel, to give them details about this humanitarian project.

On the occasion, Director Marketing, SKMCH&RC, Mr. Tariq Azam said: “The inauguration of 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 and largest Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (SKMCH&RC), in Karachi. The new project in Karachi was officially inaugurated at a ceremony held on the construction site on December 29, 2016. We are delighted to be able to announce this long-awaited project, which has been made possible by the purchase, at advantageous rates, of 20 acres of land from the Defence Housing Authority, in their DHA City project.”

Hospital to be completed at a cost of Rs6.2 billion by 2021

While talking about the budget and facilities of the project Mr. Azam added: “We expect to complete construction of the hospital over a three-year time-frame, at an estimated cost of Rs6.2 billion, with the hospital planned to open in December 2021 as a fully-functional cancer hospital with all the essential clinical and support departments one would expect of a facility of this nature.”

The construction of this hospital in Karachi is an utmost need of the people of south of Pakistan, said Mr. Tariq. He added: “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 Balochistan, but it will also help to enhance healthcare standards and to develop training and employment opportunities in the wider region as a whole. SKMCH&RC is committed to provide equal cancer treatment facilities to every citizen of Pakistan. Our hospital in Karachi will help eradicating sense of deprivation in people from Sindh and Balochistan. In line with its mission to ensure access to the poor, over 75 percent of our cancer patients receive free cancer care and this will continue in Karachi.”

He further added that “Shaukat Khanum Hospital is providing financially supported cancer treatment to 75 percent of its patients since 1994.

So far, Rs39 billion has been spent on free cancer treatment.

 This mammoth amount shows the trust of people of Pakistan on the management of SKMT due to their uprights approach in dealing with funds provided by supporters of SKMCH&RC. The management of the hospital has a firm belief that people of Pakistan, especially from Karachi will continue to help in construction and running of this hospital as well.”