Shaukat Khanam Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Center

Introduction:

The Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (SKMCH&RC) in Lahore, Pakistan, is a cutting-edge cancer centre. The Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust is a charity organisation founded under Pakistan's Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860. Imran Khan, the Pakistani cricket legend and current Prime Minister is the founder of the organisation. Mrs. Shaukat Khanum, his mother, died of cancer, which inspired him to build the hospital. Despite having highly skilled physicians and surgeons, Pakistan had no structured focus on cancer patients until the early 1990s. Cancer treatment was administered in the general wards of general hospitals by non-specialist physicians and surgeons due to a lack of diagnostic tools and the use of relatively few conventional chemotherapy medicines. A tragic event introduced Imran Khan on the cancer scene in this vacuum. Imran was an international cricketing star in 1990, having captained both the Oxford University and Pakistan cricket teams; in the same year, his mother died of cancer, and he was shocked by the absence of competent medical care in the country against cancer. Imran decided to create a tertiary care cancer hospital in Lahore, Pakistan, named after his mother, the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, as a model for Pakistan in that year. It was a difficult effort to create a master plan for a tertiary care, state-of-the-art cancer centre in a developing country. In 1990, there were no credible statistics on cancer incidence in Pakistan, no principles of contemporary hospital administration existed, nursing education had not kept up with modern trends, and there was a major lack of educated secondary health personnel. In 1990, there was no MRI machine in the region; medical radioisotopes and blood products were generally not available. So Imran Khan and his team has faced many difficulties initially.

Fundraising:

The hospital concept was based entirely on donations, because no government involvement was allowed to avoid bureaucratic or political influence, the hospital idea was fully funded via contributions. Imran Khan intended to establish a charity that would provide free cancer treatment to impoverished individuals regardless of their financial situation. So Imran Khan started a donation campaign in order to build the hospital. At the beginning only a little amount of money was raised, but Imran Khan stayed firm and modified the fundraising strategy for the hospital. He next turned to youngsters, founding the fundraising squad "Imran's Tigers." When the Tigers collected donations from motorists at traffic signals and went door to door to collect funds, they created history. They not only secured sufficient funds to construct the institution, but they also aroused public awareness about the need for the country's first cancer hospital. Imran Khan issued a nationwide appeal to collect cash from a match between Pakistan and India held at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore where he raised Rs. 2,902,600. Following it, more than 50 successful fund raisers were organized all around the world. Imran's captaincy led Pakistan to victory in the 1992 cricket world cup in Melbourne, which aided fundraising efforts. He was able to earn £1.55 million in just six weeks following the World Cup, when the same sum had taken him two years previously. He gave the project his whole award money of 85,000 pounds. After that Imran Khan and team has raised enough money to make his dream a reality. The positive response of the Pakistani population, both within and beyond Pakistan, was both surprising and uplifting, thanks in no little part to Imran Khan's reputation and star status. Imran worked relentlessly to raise cash both in the United States and internationally, and people eagerly reacted. With publicity campaigns and fundraisers, these donations have remained and even expanded over the years.

SKMH Making:

Dr. Nausherwan K. Burki MB, PhD, FRCP, FCPS, designed the Master Plan for the Hospital in 1990. Graham Rapp of Arrasmith, Judd & Rapp, Architects in Health Planning, USA, designed the hospital, which he managed. Nayyar Ali Dada & Associates of Lahore were in charge of the design details on site. Messrs. Progressive Consultants, Lahore, did the local engineering. The hospital's foundation was laid in April 1991, and was opened on December 29, 1994. Dr. Burki served as the hospital's first CEO until September 1996, when he took a sabbatical leave from his university. He was in charge of hiring all of the consultant/attending medical personnel as well as senior nursing staff.

The master plan for SKMH was created by a group of professionals. They designed An excellent road map of SKMH. The master plan was divided into three parts, with the first phase beginning with 60 inpatient beds and all auxiliary services, and the second phase ending with 250 inpatient beds by the end of ten years. In the end, the timeframe was excessively ambitious, and the phases took 20 years to complete instead of the projected 10. The hospital was constructed in accordance with the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) standards and hospital construction rules in the United States.

Shaukat Khanum has a presence in more than 65 cities across Pakistan through hospitals, diagnostic centers, walk-in clinics (cancer screening centers), and laboratory collection locations. Shaukat Khanum, Lahore has examined over 75% of cancer patients for free. In 2017–2018, 72 percent of patients were treated completely free of charge at the hospital. A further 13% received therapy that was just partially free. Only 15% of patients were responsible for the entire treatment expense. The Lahore hospital sees over 700 outpatients every day. On a daily basis, about 130 patients get chemotherapy. Shaukat Khanum's yearly budget is R.s 28 billion, according to figures from 2022. This year, 210,667 outpatient visits were recorded. A total of 14,840 patients have been hospitalized.

The establishment of the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Center in Lahore has had a significant influence on Pakistan, not only in terms of clinical cancer care, but also in terms of hospital management, nursing, pharmacy services, and overall health management. Regional health care organizations have dispatched observers to the hospital and have adopted our hospital systems. Nurses and pharmacists from these and other hospitals rotate through the SKMH and then return to their respective institutions to put what they've learned into practice. On April 20, 2018, the Joint Commission awarded the hospital accreditation. It's been a long road, and it's still going on. A new hospital with 250 beds was built in 2015 in response to the large number of patients travelling from the north of the nation and Afghanistan. And now another hospital has been started in Karachi.