Sindh government to establish childhood cancer centres: Murad

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Friday deplored the ineffective treatment of children suffering from cancer in Pakistan, due to which the rate of their cure was dismal at 25 to 30 per cent compared to 80 to 85 per cent in the developed countries.

The CM was speaking on Friday at the inaugural ceremony of the Fourth Annual International Conference of the Pakistan Society of Paediatric Oncology (PSPO), at a local hotel. The conference, titled ‘PSPOCON-19’, has been organised for the cause of improving treatment of childhood cancer in Pakistan.

Shah said the outcomes of childhood cancers had improved dramatically in the world. He lamented that in Pakistan, 8,000 to 10,000 new cases of childhood cancer emerged every year for which there were only 13 facilities in the country, which too had limited number of trained doctors and nursing staff.

“As a result of the lack of infrastructure in place for these sick children, the outcomes of children with cancers being cured is dismal at 25 to 30 per cent compared to 80 to 85 per cent in the developed world,” the CM said.

Childhood cancer had been recognised as an alarming issue at the international level by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Shah maintained. “They [WHO] have started the WHO Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer with the aim of reaching at least a 60 per cent worldwide survival rate for children with cancer by 2030, thereby saving an additional one million lives worldwide,” he said.

The CM remarked that his participation at the ceremony was a validation of his resolve to work for improving the health of all Pakistani children.

“We at the national level want to affirm our support towards endeavours of curing childhood cancers,” he said, added that “we fully support the Pakistan Society of Pediatric Oncology’s (PSPO) partnership with WHO in improving the outcomes and saving the lives of children with cancers”.

Shah said he wanted to encourage public-private partnerships where government support was available to organisations dedicated to improving health.

“This government has always invested in creating bridges and liaisons with institutions and organisations committed to developing healthcare infrastructure,” he said and added that it is in everyone’s best interest to have healthy children as they are the greatest asset any country can have.

Informing the audience about the government’s plans regarding treatment of childhood cancer, Shah said he had already decided to establish child cancer cure centres in Sukkur and Hyderabad. “We are in consultation with the experts for exact location of such centres and their establishment would be announced in the next budget,” he said.

The CM remarked that he wanted Pakistan to be identified as a nation of resilience and strength. “Despite being a developing nation, we will overcome the obstacles in improving the health of not only children with cancers but all the Pakistani children,” he concluded.

Organiser of the conference eminent paediatric oncologist Prof Dr Shamvil Ashraf said more than 300,000 children were diagnosed with cancer in the world annually and cancer was one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among children and adolescents.

“Of these childhood cancer cases, around 80 per cent occur in lower and middle income countries including Pakistan,” he said. “In Pakistan, almost half of the children with cancer have no access to treatment; whereas, a large number are unable to complete their treatment.”

According to Dr Ashraf, Pakistan has low cancer survival rate which falls between 20 to 25 per cent while in the developed world, 80 per cent of such patients survive.

“Pakistan plans to achieve 70 per cent childhood cancer survival by 2030. The vision aims at saving lives of children with cancer and meeting psycho-social and palliative care needs of children and their families,” he said.