Cancer patients left in lurch, says MPA Rabia
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPA Rabia Azfar Nizami on Thursday expressed concern over the termination of Cancer Support Program in Dr Ruth KM Pfau Civil Hospital.
The Rs400 million annual programme providing financial assistance to cancer patients was going on for last ten years. In her statement, Rabia Azfar requested Sindh Minister of Health Azra Fazal Pechuho and Health Secretary Kazim Hussain Jatoi to take action against the medical superintendent of Civil Hospital. She said that the decision of Civil Hospital MS to end cancer program was highly deplorable.
The Sindh government was providing medicines to two and a half thousand patients through the programme. She said it was "incomprehensible" to abruptly end a Rs400 million program.
Despite the Sindh government's funding, MS Civil Hospital is advising cancer patients to register with the Baitul Maal, a federal government social security net for the destitute. She said it means that the programme is being run by the Sindh government but the federal government is being held responsible for the expenses.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 31st, 2021.