Spent as it was spent in the shadows of the Covid-19 pandemic, 2021 was another challenging year for healthcare systems around the world. At the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centres (SKMCH&RC), we complete, today, six years of service in Peshawar and twenty-seven years in Lahore. The coronavirus pandemic continued to impact cancer care for our patients in myriad ways, with ongoing difficulties in travel and heightened risk of infection, amongst others. At an organisational level too, we had to continuously adapt, in the face of recurrent waves of infection, so as to ensure the safety of our patients and staff, encouraging vaccination, maintaining a high level of vigilance so as to ensure compliance with best-in-class infection control practices and in managing supply-chain disruptions for essential items. Throughout these turbulent times, however, our belief in our well-wishers, in Pakistan and overseas, remained unwavering. You have all demonstrated unstinting support for our cause, allowing us to continue our mission of providing quality treatment for all cancer patients, irrespective of their ability to pay.
I would like to take this opportunity to review some major achievements over the past year and share our goals for 2022.
In Lahore, despite the difficulties posed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we were delighted when we achieved Joint Commission International re-accreditation for SKMCH&RC, Lahore. There can be no greater testament to our commitment to continuing excellence in all spheres of activity at our institutions.
The commissioning of our second PET-CT scanner in 2021 doubled our capacity to perform scans and drastically reduced waiting times. As part of our commitment to remaining at the cutting edge of technology, we are currently in the process of installing a new, state-of-the-art linear accelerator, equipped with in-treatment imaging and stereotactic body radiotherapy capabilities, and it is expected that this will be functional by March 2022.
SKMCH&RC in Peshawar achieved a major milestone in April 2021, with the commencement of surgical oncology and anaesthesia services. With two modular operation theatres, the facility now offers all modalities of cancer treatment to our patients from KP and surrounding areas. Other services also continue to be scaled up in Peshawar, where a further two operating rooms will be commissioned over the next few months. In October 2021, we installed two new cone beam CT scanners in our linear accelerators, so as to be able to deliver image-guided radiation therapy. This allows much greater accuracy in treatment delivery, in parallel with a significant reduction in side effects.
In Karachi, we continue to see increasing patient activity at our Diagnostic Centre & Clinic, where needy patients have access to free treatment with chemotherapy. Construction work on our third, and Pakistan’s largest tertiary care cancer hospital, in Karachi, continues. At the time of writing, 70% of the grey structure has been completed. It is expected that, with your ongoing support, this project will be completed in late-2023, at a total cost of Rs. 16.4 billion, the bulk of which will be raised, and utilised, in 2022 and 2023.
In order to be able to continue to provide free cancer treatment to an ever-increasing number of deserving patients in Lahore, Peshawar and Karachi, to support ongoing construction and development work in Lahore and in Peshawar, and to fund the construction of the new SKMCH&RC, in Karachi, we need your support more than ever before. Confident in our belief in your unwavering support and your unflagging generosity, we have set ourselves a very ambitious target of Rs28 billion, for 2022, of which we expect half to be met through your generous donations and Zakat. I know that we can count on you to open your hearts for Shaukat Khanum once more so that, together, we can one day realise our dream of being able to provide world-class cancer care to every patient in Pakistan, regardless of their ability to pay.