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Friday March 29, 2024

KP govt lacks resources to treat growing cancer patients

By Mushtaq Yusufzai
November 28, 2018

PESHAWAR: With an unprecedented increase in the number of cancer patients, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is lacking adequate resources and trained health professionals to properly deal with patients suffering from the fatal disease in the province and recently merged tribal districts.

According to sources in the provincial Health Department, currently, a 20-bed Oncology Department at the Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) is the only facility coping with the cancer patients since 2004.

It is another irony that the speciality initially could not be established due to the strong opposition of the powerful physicians in the province, fearing that it would undermine their importance.

The sources said that only 10 patients used to visit the OPD when the first 14-bed Oncology Unit was set up in the HMC in 2004. The HMC administration has established a full-fledged Oncology Department where 100 cancer patients from all over KP and seven merged tribal districts are seen in OPD four days a week.

Two persons, Sahibzada Saeed, former secretary finance, and incumbent chairman of the Board of Governors HMC, and Prof Dr Abid Jameel, head of Oncology Department HMC, are stated to have contributed a lot to establishing and strengthening the oncology services in the province.

The sources said both of them in their personal capacity set up the unit and later started free cancer treatment in the province. At present, a 1000 per cent rise has been recorded in cancer patients in KP but none of the successive governments bothered to either expand the existing services in Peshawar or expand this vital speciality to other places so patients

from remote districts do not come to the capital city for treatment. In KP, there is not a single district among all the districts that have not reported cancer patients. After Peshawar, where 259 patients are presently getting free anti-cancer treatment, Mardan with 174 cancer patients is the second largest place in terms of reporting the maximum number of cancer patients in KP. Swat has 161 cancer patients while Torghar has only one followed by Kohistan with 12 patients. This lone Oncology Department in HMC always remains jam-packed with patients and their attendants. The hospital administration and Oncology Department find it difficult to accommodate the increasing number of patients in the 20-bed ward.

The HMC has reportedly progressed in terms of services and initiating new specialities in the last three years and now Sahibzada Saeed is expected to provide some more space and expand the Oncology Department. Until now oncology was the most neglected speciality. However, when Prof Dr Abid Jameel set up this unit, he encouraged and motivated young doctors to join this speciality. He is currently training 10 trainee medical officers (TMOs) in oncology.