Confusion persists regarding DHA-Shaukat Khanum hospital MoU signing ceremony

DHA official says even if event held on time, media would not be allowed

KARACHI: For the third time in the span of little over a month, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signing ceremony between Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Defence Housing Authority to establish a cancer hospital in Karachi seems to have been 'called off' due to unexplained reasons.

On Tuesday, a day before the MoU signing was to be held, a DHA spokesperson at the eleventh hour said the event has been postponed, without giving any specific reason.



Later, DHA spokesperson Major Aurangzeb said the media was not to be invited to the event, and that things had not been finalised yet. "Even if the ceremony is held, it would be a private affair," he claimed confusingly.

The move comes as a surprise since a week before the event, invitation cards detailing the programme were sent out to journalists and press releases were dispatched to media houses.

However, a spokesperson for the hospital in Lahore, Khwaja Nazir, said the hospital's CEO, Dr Faisal Sultan, was still flying to Karachi, and said the ceremony would be held as planned.

Sultan is expected to be the chief guest at the event, which according to the invitation card would be held at DHA City's visitors centre.

The different versions indicate that the ceremony will likely take place on its due date but as a 'private affair'.

The DHA official failed to explain why they wanted to keep the media away from the event.

DHA claims that the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital, which was founded by cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, would be established in DHA City on the Superhighway.



This would be the third hospital of the chain to be built in the country, after Lahore and Peshawar.

According to the invitation card, the MoU signing ceremony would have enabled authorities to open a cancer hospital and research centre in Karachi.

They termed it a 'historic event', and said the city would soon receive a 'much-awaited dedicated cancer hospital and research centre for its residents, and will be providing advance healthcare for the residents.'

DHA administrator Brigadier Zubair Ahmed had earlier told The Express Tribune that they were providing 18 acres free-of-cost land for the establishment of the cancer hospital.

"It will be on the fringes of DHA City, and will have a separate entrance. Along with Karachi, the hospital will facilitate patients of Balochistan, rural Sindh and southern Punjab," he had said.



The DHA was earlier set to host the ceremony on January 14 and then on February 14 before finally deciding February 24 as the event date.

Meanwhile, Mudassir Habib, an official of the Shaukat Khanum set up here in Karachi, said he had also heard that the authorities had postponed the event.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 24^th, 2016.