Karachi: The government of Sindh, Pakistan, announced on Sunday, February 6, a grant worth $4.1 million to upgrade the Jinnah Post Medical Centre (JPMC) in Karachi with the latest technology for Cyberknife machines and equipment. The grant has been awarded to the Patients Aid Foundation (PAF), a non-profit organization that works to serve needy patients at the JPMC.
Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah addressed the agreement signing ceremony between the provincial government and PAF, where he spoke about the importance of upgrading the Cyberknife facility at the JPMC. The waiting list of patients seeking treatment at the JPMC is estimated to be around 2,000, according to the chief minister. The head of the Cyberknife Unit, Professor Tariq Mahmood, highlighted the growth in the number of patients seeking treatment at the JPMC due to the increasing awareness of Cyberknife as the best and safest treatment for stage-1 prostate cancer, compared to surgery.
In order to address the situation, Chief Minister Shah also announced an increase in the annual grant to the PAF from Rs 340 million to Rs 540 million from the next financial year. He also noted the addition of beds in the hospital for the next fiscal year budget.
The long-term agreement signed between the Sindh administration and PAF is set to last 25 years, and will improve free diagnosis and treatment facilities at the JPMC. The collaboration will involve the operation of various facilities at the JPMC, and has already seen the installation of two Cyberknife and Tomotherapy machines, which are jointly operated by the two entities.
According to the chief minister, patients from 167 cities in Pakistan and 15 countries have availed of the free facility at the JPMC, with the number of patients increasing every day. He described the JPMC as one of the top 10 centers in the world for Cyberknife and Tomotherapy, and the only center that offers absolutely free cancer treatment with cutting-edge technology, regardless of nationality, religion, or ethnicity.
In addition to the Cyberknife and Tomotherapy facilities, the chief minister also spoke about the PET scan and cyclotron machines at the JPMC, which are also a joint project of the provincial administration and the PAF. He noted that the JPMC is the only public sector hospital in Pakistan that offers free PET-CT and PET-MR scans, regardless of the type of cancer, while private healthcare centers can charge as much as Rs 90,000 per scan.
