Islamabad to get first state-of-the-art cancer hospital by June 2025.

ISLAMABAD -- Islamabad is likely to get the first state-of-the-art cancer hospital by June 2025 in the PIMS. However, the original PC-I cost of the project, Rs 1,998 million, has escalated by over 70 percent, to Rs 3,406 million, in the revised PC-I over the years, it has been learnt.

Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives has submitted the working paper to the Central Development Working Party. Previously, the decision to establish the hospital was taken in a meeting chaired by then Prime Minister Imran Khan on health reforms that were being taken in Islamabad, Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on December 13, 2018.

The project cost, according to the original PC-I was Rs 1,998 million which escalated to Rs 3,406 million as per the revised PC-I suggesting a raise of more than 70 percent in the original cost. The sources said that the PC-I was received in PD and SI on January 24, 2023 and the project is proposed to be financed through the PSDP. The project will be completed in two and a half years from February 1, 2023 to June 30, 2025 (2 years and 5 months).

According to the official documents, the hospital will diagnose cancer at an early stage and treat different types of cancers. It would be a full-fledged cancer hospital to treat poor cancer patients free of cost. According to the estimates, as many as 7,000 patients per year would be treated in phase-I expected to be increased to 16,000 in the next 5-10 years. Cancer is one of the leading non-communicable diseases causing mortality and morbidity.

PIMS oncology department is the only government-owned cancer treatment facility in the city at present. The International Agency for Research on Cancer estimates that more than 178,000 new cancer cases are diagnosed every year in Pakistan, and there are more than 117 percent (2,008,000) cancer deaths annually. Less than 250 individuals have qualified in the country as trained medical or radiation oncologists.

Around 10,000 patients per year are being treated in Islamabad, AJK, GB and FATA visiting various hospitals both in public and private hospitals. Currently, PAEC-NORI Hospital (semi-private), CMH, Rawalpindi, and Shifa Int. Hospital are providing cancer treatment to patients of Islamabad and adjoining areas, suggests the brief description of the project.

This proposed project envisages establishment of a 200-bed state-of-the-art hospital for indoor admission of various types of cancer patients. The division of the beds are...