Murad approves $4.1m for modern cyberknife machines

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has announced a grant equivalent to $4.1 million for Patients Aid Foundation (PAF) to replace the old Cyberknife machines and equipment with the latest technology at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) so that patients from all over the country could be benefited. Murad was speaking at the signing ceremony of the agreement between the Sindh government and Patients Aid Foundation for developing a working partnership at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Karachi, for different projects, particularly the Cube knife here at a local hotel on Sunday.

The programme was attended by Adviser Law Murtaza Wahab, Parliamentary Secretary Qasim Soomro, Secretary Health Zulfiqar Shah, Executive Director JPMC Prof Shahid Rasool and donors and philanthropists.

The CM said that he had been told that the Cyberknife facility has a waiting list of around 2,000 patients. In order to address this grave situation, the chief minister also announced an enhancement of the annual grant to the Patients Aid Foundation from Rs340 million to Rs540 million from the next financial year.

Patients Aid Foundation (PAF) has been serving the poor and needy patients at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Karachi, since 1991.

Shah said that after the devolution of JPMC to the Sindh government, the Patients Aid Foundation (PAF) has enhanced its bed capacity from 1,100 to 2,208 beds for which his government has already notified this new bed strength for the next fiscal year budget for the JPMC.

The CM said that the PAF has installed two Cyberknife and Tomotherapy, which were jointly operated by the Sindh govt and PAF. “Through this joint effort today, JPMC is amongst the top 10 centers in the world having two Cyberknifes & Tomotherapy and is the only center on the planet that offers absolutely free cancer treatment with cutting edge technology, irrespective of nationality, religion, and ethnicity,” he said.

Shah said that to make this historic partnership formal, the Patients’ Aid Foundation and the Government of Sindh have signed an Agreement for 25 years to operate various facilities at JPMC to further improve the free diagnosis and treatment facilities that would otherwise be beyond the reach of a common person.

According to the chief minister, the JPMC is the only public sector hospital in Pakistan that offers free PET-Ct & PET-MR irrespective of the type of cancer. “There is no free PET SCAN facility anywhere in Pakistan,” he said and added that in private healthcare centers, it could cost as much as Rs90,000 per scan.

The CM said that the doctors have told him that a cancer patient may require two to three PET scans during the treatment. “Pet scan and cyclotron at JPMC is also a joint project of the Sindh government and Patients Aid Foundation, which I had initiated in 2016,” Shah recalled and said that JPMC entertains the largest number of patients compared to any other center in Pakistan.