Lahore (AsiaNews) - "Every year more than 300 thousand people contract cancer in Pakistan. Each day 200 people die because of the high cost of medicines and the lack of doctors and nurses." This was reported by Dr. Shahryar A Khan during a press conference in Lahore. The Doctor has appealed to the government and donors to support the construction of a hospital where cancer patients can be treated for free.
Dr. Khan, a Muslim, who directed oncology units for 18 years, says that the hospital will have a capacity of 400 beds and its treatments will give back hope to the 180 thousand patients, regardless of race or religion.
The foundations of the first unit of palliative care in the country was laid last week during a ceremony organized on the eastern outskirts of Lahore. The Cancer Care Hospital - the name of the hospital - will occupy an area of 23 acres (just over 93 thousand square meters) and its construction will be completed within three years at a cost of nine million rupees (about 78 thousand euro) . It will also include a department of oncology nursing in its nursing school.
Lahore is home to the first and only hospital for the treatment of tumors of Pakistan. This is the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, which treats 9,500 cancer patients each year almost completely free. According to data from the hospital, 75% of patients receive economic aid to deal with the necessary treatment, from chemotherapy to surgery.
Dr. Khan told AsiaNews: "There was an estimated 40 million people in Punjab province [of which Lahore is the capital - Ed] when this hospital was built 25 years ago. Now there are 100 million. At the time we in Pakistan need 20 hospitals like this. "
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the country, but still not one of the subjects taught in 46 medical colleges. To date there are only eight specialists in oncology.
"I belong to a poor family and I have seen how people suddenly die due to this disease. The entire project aims to save patients without any discrimination of religious type. At the same time, we want to help the government in providing health facilities. Now we need its attention” concludes the doctor.