JPMC to get another Cyberknife unit

Sindh govt pledges $7m for the completion of the surgical complex

KARACHI: The Sindh government approved the release of $7 million on Monday for the completion of the nine-storey Surgical Complex building at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC). The building is currently under construction and will feature the Cyberknife Stereotactic System - a robotic system invented by a Standford University neurosurgeon that treats tumours with high-dosage precision radiation and causes minimal damage to healthy cells.

The surgical system is already in place at JPMC and has been running successfully. The decision to release funds for the surgical complex was made during a meeting at the CM House. Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah also issued directives for a Cyberknife Satellite Centre to be established in Sukkur.

Principal Secretary to the CM Sajid Jamal Abro, Finance Secretary Hassan Naqvi, JPMC Head of Radiology, CyberKnife Robotic Radiosurgery and Oncology Dr Tariq Mahmood, Patients Foundation chief Mushtaq Chappra and Shabbir Diwan attended the meeting.

'Magic knife'

Briefing the CM, Dr Mahmood said that Karachi has 67,000 new cancer patients every year. According to Dr Mahmood, cancer patients from across 131 cities of the country are being treated with the Cyberknife facility which is now known as the 'magic knife'. Another Cyberknife unit is being installed at JPMC at the cost of $4.1 million and work would be completed by the end of this year, he said.

The meeting was informed that around 24 cancer patients are treated every day at JPMC while at the cancer ward 120 patients, and 200 patients at the out-patient department (OPD) are being treated free of charge. The CM said that the Sindh government would issue funds of $700,000 for Cyberknife units by 2020.

The CM was told that a tomotherapy - a radiation therapy modality - project is also being installed at a cost of $4 million. He was informed that there were 16 tomotherapy functional across the globe and the facility at JPMC would bring the number to 17. The CM assured the representatives of JPMC and the Patient Aid Foundation that the provincial government would support their efforts for the treatment of cancer patients.

Mushtaq Chapra of the Patients Aid Foundation told the meeting that a food complex was also being established at JPMC. Free meals would be offered to all attendants at the Farheen and Ashraf Mukaty Jinnah Food Complex, he said.

During discussion on projects for the 2019-20 fiscal year, the CM was informed that the department of neuromedicines and a stroke unit was also being established while work on the department of psychiatry and behavioural sciences was also under way.

Dr Mahmood said that the surgical complex was being constructed at a cost of $35 million. The facility would have 2,000 beds. The CM pledged $7 million for the completion of the facility and directed the finance secretary to manage the funds.

The CM directed Dr Mahmood to make necessary arrangements for the establishment of the Cyberknife unit satellite in Sukkur.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 16^th, 2019.