“Construction Work is Underway at Full Pace for Pakistan’s Third & Biggest
Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre in Karachi”-
Dr. Muhammed Aasim Yusuf
Construction work for the new Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Karachi, delayed
earlier in the year by the COVID-19 pandemic, re-started in September 2020. Work is underway at full pace and the
project is expected to be commissioned in less than three years, at a total cost of Rs. 13 billion. In a press-briefing
organised in this regard, Dr. Muhammed Aasim Yusuf, the Chief Medical Officer and the Acting Chief Executive
Officer of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centres (SKMCH&RC) in Pakistan, shared the
latest updates on the status of this project.
Dr. Aasim Yusuf explained the urgent need for more specialised cancer centres in Pakistan. He said there are over a
hundred and seventy thousand new cancer cases in Pakistan each year and while “The SKMCH&RC in Lahore and
Peshawar continue to provide financially supported treatment to over 75 percent of cancer patients admitted for
treatment each year, the huge number of new cancer patients means that we are able to serve only a proportion of
those suffering from cancer in Pakistan. The treatment of cancer is often a long and arduous process, with many
patients having to make repeated, and expensive, trips over long distances in order to seek treatment. Successful
completion of treatment is followed by several years of further visits for follow-up. It is for this reason that our
second hospital was constructed in Peshawar, and this is why we have now turned to Karachi, where construction
of the third SKMCH&RC will hugely enhance the country’s capacity to treat cancer and provide access to cancer care
for ever-increasing numbers of patients. The hospital in Karachi will be the largest tertiary-care cancer centre in
Pakistan, with state-of-the-art cancer diagnosis and treatment facilities available under one roof. SKMCH&RC,
Karachi, will serve all of Sindh, as well as Southern Baluchistan, and will help to bring cancer care closer to our
patients.”
The new Hospital will be located in DHA City, on twenty acres of land. It will open as a fully-functional cancer hospital,
with all clinical disciplines in place, and equipped with the latest technology, including state-of-the-art diagnostic
facilities as well as the latest in treatment planning and delivery systems. SKMCH&RC in Karachi, at one million square
feet of constructed area, is twice the size of the hospital in Lahore, and will have forty-seven outpatient examination
rooms, a sixty-six bed chemotherapy facility, four hundred inpatient beds, sixteen operation theatres, and twenty-
four intensive care beds.
Commenting on bringing state-of-the-art quality of cancer care to the underprivileged people of Sindh and adjoining
areas, Dr. Aasim Yusuf said that “we are committed to providing the best possible care to all our cancer patients and,
in line with this vision, we plan to equip the Karachi hospital not only with CT, MRI and PET-CT scanners, but also
with a PET-MR system. This new form of hybrid imaging technology, a first for Pakistan, allows diagnosis that is more
accurate, with the greater safety and convenience of two scans in one. This commitment to remaining at the cutting
edge of technology will help ensure that we continue to enhance our capacity to treat cancer for the entire region”.
More than two decades ago, the construction of Pakistan’s first Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and
Research Centre laid down the foundation of a legacy of hope. Now construction work is underway at full pace for
SKMCH&RC in Karachi. In his appeal to the people of Pakistan residing around the globe, and especially in Karachi,
Dr. Aasim Yusuf said that the new hospital is an opportunity for the public to create a lasting legacy by donating for
a brick every month or by dedicating rooms in memory of loved ones. He said, “Please give generously to enable
the growing network of the Shaukat Khanum Healthcare System to defeat cancer in Pakistan”. For further
information and guidance on how to donate, you may contact on 0800 11 555 or email at fundraising@skm.org.pk.
