The management of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital expressed deep concern over the allegations raised by PML-N leader Siddiqul Farooq concerning Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust in a press conference on Sunday.
The management said that Imran Khan, chairman of the Board of Governors of SKMT did not have any authority over the day-to-day financial matters of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust. All investment decisions are taken by a committee of the Board (of which Imran Khan is NOT a member) or by the management of the Hospital. SKMT has published all its audited accounts publicly since its inception, in 1989.
The investment deposit that Farooq referred to is in an investment bank under the full regulatory purview of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan and has included depositors and investors including various entities of the Government of Pakistan. This particular deposit is a fraction of the Hospital’s overall investments. These investments are placed in a number of banks and financial institutions to minimise risk. All the Hospital’s investments are designed to ensure funds are available for free treatment of cancer patients, as well as for the Hospital’s capital expenditure and development projects, the most significant of which, at present, is the construction of Pakistan’s second Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre, in Peshawar. Details of this and all other investments are, and have always been, available on the Hospital’s website.
The management requested politicians from all parties to not to politicize public welfare organisations like Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust, which has been serving the poor cancer patients of Pakistan for close to two decades.