“It has become difficult for us to bear the expenses of the disease,” she added.
Talking to the Express Tribune, Consultant Oncologist at NORI Hospital Dr Humaira Mehmood said every week the hospital receives around 15 to 20 new patients of breast cancer and a large number of follow-ups. She said the cost of treating breast cancer with radiotherapy is high and depends on the number of patient visits: 25 visits cost around Rs0.1 million. She said breast cancer is common in the country but unfortunately its complete treatment is only available in major cities.
Last year in September Shabnam* found a lump in her breast but remained silent for two months as she knew that she could not afford its treatment cost. “I was certain that it was a breast cancer as one of my closed relatives died of it few years ago,” she said.
Later when the lump started expanding, she went to Polyclinic Hospital Islamabad where she was diagnosed with breast cancer and was referred for surgery.
“The most challenging thing for me then was to arrange money for the surgery,” she said. After struggling for about three months, she finally got herself registered at Baitul Mal for getting Zakat for her treatment and had a surgery.
Instead of getting better, however, her condition worsened and she was referred to NORI Hospital for radiotherapy. “Now the major problem for me is to bear the expenses of medicines,” she added.
Dr Humaira Mehmood of NORI hospital said that hospitals in the twin cities lack radiotherapy facility and other than NORI hospital, only Shifa International hospital in Islamabad and Civil Military Hospital (CMH) in Rawalpindi have the facility.
NORI hospital is the only government hospital in the capital that provides radiotherapy as well as nuclear medicines. The hospital also receives a large number of breast cancer patients from northern areas, Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa and Gilgit-Baltistan.
“It is difficult for the hospital staff to treat the huge number of breast cancer patients in a day,” Mehmood added.
“The increasing awareness about breast cancer in the country has led to more patients visiting the hospitals,” said General Surgeon at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) Dr Rakhshanda Rasheed. She said to deal with such a huge amount of patients every day, the hospital requires more female staff and modern equipment – which, unfortunately, most hospitals in the twin cities lack – and is adding to the increasing number of breast cancer patients coming to Pims.
Resident of Rawat Fatima Hussain*, 56, went to Civil Military Hospital Rawalpindi after she found a lump in her breast. As there was no female surgeon at the hospital, her family refused to get her treatment by a male surgeon. Her family took her to Holy Family Hospital Rawalpindi, from where she was referred to Nuclear Oncology & Radiotherapy Institute (NORI) Hospital. “I was surprised when I learnt that there are no female surgeons, even in the major hospitals of the twin cities, to treat breast cancer patients,” she said.
Gulrukh Nawaz* came to Islamabad from Gilgit with her 65-year-old mother, who is disabled and is also a breast cancer patient. After waiting for about five and a half hours for her mother’s test reports, she was asked to visit the hospital again the next day. “My mother is weak and uses a wheelchair, it is difficult for her to visit the hospital over and over and to wait for long hours,” she said. The high travelling costs are also hard to bear, she added.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 1st, 2010.
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