Pakistan Professionals Forum Qatar (PPFQ) hosted the community at its Annual Cancer Awareness Sohour recently. PPFQ partnered with Qatar Cancer Society (QCS) and Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre (SKMCH) to spread cancer awareness.
“As a voluntary group of Pakistani professionals, we at PPFQ, have a keen desire to give back to the Qatari society as a whole by harnessing distinct experiences and skills of Pakistani professionals and our Qatari counterparts. Cancer is one issue where we strongly feel to engage with the community and raise awareness towards the disease to promote preventive measures and early detection,” said Mohsin Mujtaba, Chairman and President of PPFQ, in his introductory remarks.
“It is something that is close to everyone’s heart as probably there is no-one today who has not been directly or indirectly affected by cancer. We are fortunate that we live in Qatar where we have state-of-the-art cancer treatment facilities and we all have the means to afford the treatment,” he added.
Dr Hadi Abu Rasheed from Qatar Cancer Society shared details of the National Screening Programme and presented recommendations for early detection of colon and breast cancer for men and women respectively. While talking to the audience he said, “Up to 40% of all cancers are preventable if we adopt a healthy lifestyle.” He further recommended that, “All adults, male and female, should get regular cancer screening examinations. It can happen to anyone, only 5-10% of all cancers are truly hereditary. The most common cancer types in Qatar amongst men are colon and rectal cancer while for women its breast cancer.”
Dr Muhammed Aasim Yusuf, Chief Medical Officer of SKMCH, presented the status of cancer treatment in Pakistan and progress made by Shaukat Khanum hospital. Naila Khan, Associate Director Marketing of SKMCH, later on presented patient testimony and story of a 6 year old boy Abdulla Noor fighting cancer at SKMCH. “We all plan for our children’s higher education and future stability, no-one even thinks about planning for their child’s illness let alone something like cancer. No mother should see her child suffer.” she said.
Fawad Rana, Managing Director of Qatar Lubricants Company and owner of the popular cricket franchise Lahore Qalandars in Pakistan Super League, was one of the prominent guests. His sister Fauzia Rana was one of the founding team members of setting up Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital and Research Center in Lahore back in 1994 as Director of Oncology.
Speaking on the occasion, he said, “We, the expatriates, should engage our elders back home in Pakistan to donate for charitable causes. They keep track of the progress and work done by the organisation we donate to. I used to do that same with my mother and she would not only take pride in donating to Shaukat Khanum but also seek feedback about quality of patient care from people she knew were being treated. She also took pride in that association and followed up with me every year to make sure a donation was made to help Shaukat Khanum continue the good work.”
After the event, Community sat down with Dr Aasim Yusuf for an exclusive interview and delved into the story of SKMCH and road ahead.


How many patients have so far been treated by SKMT? How is the hospital funded?
In Pakistan, every year it is suspected that nearly a hundred and fifty thousand people fall victim to cancer. Being a developing country where the majority does not have access to even elementary healthcare facilities, this ailment was considered the ultimate symbol of hopelessness and almost certain death. Even treatable malignancies were mostly diagnosed too late or when even the most expensive treatment could not alter the course of the disease. SKMCH was the first specialised centre for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer in Pakistan. Over 150,000 cancer patients have been treated at the hospital since its inception. Currently, we accept about 10,000 new cancer patients each year. 
The hospital was built as a result of a great philanthropic effort and continues to be funded by our supporters. The hospital has a budget of QR350 million (Rs11 billion). Half of this the hospital will be able to raise through the sale of its private and diagnostic services however the remaining half still needs to come in the form of donations and Zakat.


Is it enough? How many more patients need treatment? How many more hospitals ae required for a country like Pakistan? What are your expansion plans?
We need about 15 specialised cancer hospitals of the magnitude of SKMCH to be able to treat all the cancer patients of Pakistan. SKMCH Lahore has been providing financially-supported treatment to over 75% of the patients for 23 years. SKMCH Peshawar has been functional for two and a half years. We hope to also start radiotherapy facilities in the coming months and surgical services in 2020. Plans are underway for the construction of SKMCH Karachi, which is planned to be commenced in October 2018.


What are your top three challenges to expand further?
There are a number of challenges but the three most important are; continuously increasing costs of medical technology and spiraling costs of new cancer treatments, recruitment and retention of trained manpower and uncertain economic and political environment.


How can people help other than just making donations?
As I mentioned earlier, the hospital has an annual budget of around $100 million (Rs11 billion). Half of this the hospital will be able to raise through the sale of its private and diagnostic services however the remaining half still needs to come in the form of donations and Zakat. Apart from donations we have a large number of volunteers who work both within the hospital and across the world to help spread awareness about the cause.


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