LAHORE: Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre (SKMCH&RC) held its first annual Iftar dinner to honour the regular donors and supporters and to collect Zakat for the year 2018. Imran Khan, Chairman Board of Governors, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust (SKMT) was the chief guest at the event which was attended by a large number of people.
The event was hosted by renowned director and actor, Sarmad Khoosat.
Dr Faisal Sultan, CEO, SKMCH&RC gave a detailed presentation about the performance of the hospital in 2017 and the challenges facing it. He said: “Its annual budget for 2018 is Rs 11 billion, half of which is expected to be collected through Zakat and donations of our supporters in Pakistan and overseas.” He further said that SKMCH&RC is providing free of cost cancer treatment facilities to about 75 to 80 percent of poor cancer patients and since its inception, the hospital has spent almost Rs 35 Billion on the treatment of poor patients.
He informed the gathering, “SKMCH&RC Peshawar recorded a twenty percent increase in overall activity in just one year. SKMCH&RC in Lahore, with five linear accelerators, is the largest radiotherapy facility in Pakistan. The hospital has had IMRT capability for many years, and has now also introduced image-guided radiation therapy or IGRT, which is one of the latest methods of radiation therapy delivery, worldwide.”
Chairman Board of Governors, SKMT, Imran Khan in his address said that “SKMCH&RC is the only cancer treatment facility in the world which is providing free cancer treatment to such a large number of patients.
He praised the efforts of the hospital management and staff, especially the CEO, Dr Faisal Sultan for their efforts in obtaining Joint Commission International’s Gold Seal of Approval for Hospital Accreditation by demonstrating continuous compliance with its internationally-recognized standards. He said that this proves that there is no distinction between the rich and the poor at SKMCH and all are accorded the same treatment.
Talking about Zakat and donations, Imran Khan said the entire Zakat fund is spent solely on the treatment of poor and deserving cancer patients.
The people present at the event donated generously at Imran Khan’s appeal and within one hour collected a record amount of Rs 15 crores for treatment of poor cancer patients.
Imran Khan thanked the donors for their generosity and support at all times.