Under the public-private partnership, 741 patients benefit in the first phase on a first-come, first-served basis
Mustafa Kamal. Photo: FILE
As many as 741 cancer patients from Islamabad, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan will receive free medicines worth nearly Rs 10 million each in the first phase of a five-year public-private partnership initiative.
The Ministry of National Health Services signed an agreement with the multinational pharmaceutical company Roche on Friday to supply the medicine. Under the scheme, the Government of Pakistan will contribute Rs1 million per patient while Roche will cover the remaining Rs9 million.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Federal Health Minister Hamed Yaqoob Sheikh said patients from Islamabad, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan would benefit from the initiative. He added that the partnership will run for five years, during which thousands of cancer patients are expected to receive treatment.
Federal Health Minister Mustafa Kamal said the facility would be available at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) for eligible patients from the three regions. He noted that 13 million Pakistanis have fallen below the poverty line due to illness, while cancer treatment alone costs nearly Rs9.8 million per patient over a five-year period.
The minister added that patients suffering from lung, liver and breast cancer would be treated under the initiative. He emphasized that the health reform includes both disease treatment and prevention, including the provision of clean drinking water, and credited the Prime Minister’s leadership for ongoing improvements in the health sector. He stated that cancer destroys entire families and this initiative aims to ease the financial and emotional burden on patients across the country.
