Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre

History

Designing and execution of the master plan was overseen by Dr. Nausherwan K. Burki, MB, PhD, FRCP, FCPS, FCCP, of the University of Kentucky Medical Center, Lexington, Kentucky, USA in collaboration with an international team of cancer physicians and research workers. Designing and architectural services were provided by Arrasmith, Judd & Rapp, Architects in Health Planning of Louisville, Kentucky, USA. Architectural details were handled by Messrs. Nayyar Ali Dada & Associates of Lahore. Local engineering was performed by Messrs. Progressive Consultants, Lahore. Ground was broken in April 1991 and the hospital opened its doors on 29 December 1994.

Since opening, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital and Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust have both accumulated local and international recognition. In 1992, Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan, Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan came together for the Shaukat Khanum Appeal Concert.

In the 1990s, Diana, Princess of Wales, visited the Pakistani hospital.

Celebrity support for Shaukat Khanum has continued throughout the years. Notable Pakistani Actor, Fawad Khan, dedicated his debut Bollywood film titled "Khoobsurat" to the foundation. Fawad is currently one of the most prominent celebrities who is diligently supporting Shaukat Khanum.

Shaukat Khanum launched their latest edition for Breast Cancer Awareness Month (October) in 2015 with the help of singer, Hadiqa Kiani, and film actress, Mahira Khan.

The Hospital was built by Mr. Imran Khan, Pakistani cricketer turned politician, with the vision to make cancer treatment accessible to every citizen of Pakistan, regardless of his/her back-ground. This is evident by the Hospital’s mission statement: “To act as a model institution to alleviate the suffering of patients with cancer through the application of modern methods of curative and palliative therapy irrespective of their ability to pay, the education of health care professionals and the public and perform research into the causes and treatment of cancer”. Today, about 75% of the patients are financially assisted by the Hospital.

In 2015, the hospital admitted 11,352 patients while 205,313 visited the Out-Patient Department. The number of patients receiving chemotherapy and radiation therapy saw an increase from the previous year statistics−42,559 cancer patients received chemotherapy treatment in 2015 as compared to 39,044 patients in the previous year and 65,132 received radiation therapy compared to 56,444 patients who received the same treatment in 2014.

The Hospitals are projects of the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust, which is a charitable organization established under the Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860 of Pakistan. It is named after the mother of Imran Khan, who died after battling with cancer. Since its inauguration on 29 December 1994, SKMCH&RC, Lahore, has spent Rs. 22.18 billion (US$270 million) on the treatment of its patients.

The second Hospital was inaugurated on 29 December 2015 by a cancer patient in Peshawar. At the completion of phase I, the Hospital has commenced clinical services, with outpatient clinics, inpatient beds, a fully equipped intensive care unit (ICU), a full-service pharmacy and twenty-four hour emergency services all fully functional. In addition, chemotherapy service has also commenced operations at the hospital, which is of tremendous benefit to itspatients, who were previously required to make repeated physically, emotionally and financially demanding trips to Lahore to have cyclical chemotherapy treatments every few weeks. In conjunction with the commencement of clinical services, the full range of Pathology and Radiology services have also begun in Peshawar. The Radiology department has X-Ray, fluoroscopy, ultrasound, mammography, CT and MRI facilities, and the PET-CT scanner, the first in Pakistan north of Lahore, should also be operational this summer. Commencement of Radiation Oncology services, planned for 2018, and surgical services in 2020 are parts of phase two and phase three of the Hospital. The SKMCH&RC, Peshawar is built according to the latest international healthcare standards and is an even bigger hospital than SKMCH&RC, Lahore.

Board of Governors

The Hospital is a project of the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust, a non-profit legal entity established under the laws of Pakistan. The Board of Governors formulates overall policy and consists of bankers, researchers, businessmen and physicians. The Hospital is managed by a professional team from clinical, administrative and nursing backgrounds. Former Pakistani cricket Captain Imran Khan is the chairman of the Board of Governors.

Clinical departments

Research

Research is needed to develop better ways of detecting and treating cancer and to improve cancer care. Over the coming years, SKMCH&RC's expanding knowledge of cancer genetics will have a major impact on its ability to predict an individual's level of risk of developing cancer, to detect and diagnose cancer early and to select treatments which are most likely to be effective. Ultimately, the genetic revolution may lead to ways of preventing cancer. The genetic revolution provides major opportunities for identifying people at risk of cancer and for developing better treatments. At the moment such studies are limited in Pakistan.

SKMCH&RC's research is organized in three different streams: i) epidemiology, which seeks to understand the lifestyle and environmental causes of cancer; ii) molecular biology, which will enable the development of better ways of predicting treatment responses and disease outcome i.e. molecular markers; and iii) clinical trials, which is primarily focused on the evaluation of existing and new therapies. The Management Information Systems (MIS) Department has developed a state of the art hospital information system. Through this system, the research team has been able to handle the logistics of a large hospital, documenting a wealth of patient information.

SKMCH&RC's objective is to explore the bridge between laboratory and clinic though the support of translational studies in areas of diagnosis, prognosis and treatment. It is important to maintain research concerned with cancer in local population, addressing issues of prevention through studies on the effects of genetic make-up, environment and lifestyle.

The research section has been developed over the last five years, and, recently, received a donation to refurbish the 3rd floor of the Hospital into a Research Wing, housing a suite of research laboratories, a data management and epidemiology division, as well as a clinical research section responsible for clinical trials.

The team of researchers is expanding and several projects are underway. Currently, Basic Sciences Research is divided into three main areas of interest and several projects are being conducted:

(1) Identification of genetic risk factors in the development of cancer

(2) Tumor virology

(3) Infections and cancer

Walk-in Clinic

It is estimated that about 150,000 new cancer cases are diagnosed in Pakistan each year. Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre was built with the mission of providing state-of-the-art diagnostic and therapeutic facilities for cancer patients irrespective of their ability to pay. SKMCH&RC accept only a fraction of this number for treatment. Therefore, the Hospital has to prudently manage its resources by accepting those cases that benefit the most from treatment. Based on this SKMCH&RC have established medical guidelines on which it screen patients for acceptance for treatment at the hospital. Since the hospital has limited capacity, these guidelines are subject to change. There are four broad principles which govern these guidelines on which patients are accepted for supported treatment at SKMCH&RC and they are:

Patients who are diagnosed with cancer or have any indication of having cancer.

Patients whose cancer is at a curable stage.

Patients who are physically capable of withstanding cancer treatment.

Patients who have not been previously treated for cancer.

For this purpose, Shaukat Khanum Walk-in Clinics have been established in Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and Multan to screen patients and accept them for treatment on financial support at SKMCH&RC. Patients are seen on a first come first served basis at these locations.