Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust
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Mission Statement
To act as a model institution to alleviate the suffering of patients with cancer through the application of modern methods of curative and palliative therapy irrespective of their ability to pay, the education of health care professionals and the public and perform research into the causes and treatment of cancer.
About This Cause
Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (SKMCH&RC) is a state-of-the-art cancer centre located in Lahore, Pakistan. It is the very first project of the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust, which is a charitable organization established under the Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860 of Pakistan. Inspiration for making the Hospital Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre is the brainchild of Pakistan’s Cricket World Cup-winning captain, Imran Khan. The inspiration to build the Hospital came after his mother, Mrs. Shaukat Khanum, succumbed to cancer in 1985. During his mother’s illness, he also witnessed the plight of poor cancer patients in the hospitals of Pakistan and deeply felt the need for a specialized cancer centre in his country. Being a developing country where the majority do not have access to even elementary health care facilities, cancer was considered the ultimate symbol of hopelessness and almost certain death. Prior to the establishment of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre in Lahore, no specialised institution for the comprehensive treatment of cancer existed in Pakistan. Imran Khan decided to embark upon the journey of realizing his dream of making cancer care accessible to the people of his country, regardless of their ability to pay. Hence, began the story of the enduring love of a son for his mother and of the passion of a nation. The beginning of a great journey The first fundraising dinner in support of the project was held in 1988 in Dubai while Imran Khan was there to play a cricket tournament. As the donations started coming in, he knew there was no turning back. After he returned to Pakistan, he gathered a team of eminent individuals belonging to diverse backgrounds and formed the Board of Governors of the newly established Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust. At the beginning, Imran Khan faced scepticism from friends as well as various experts in the field of medicine who told him his idea would only fail and end up hurting the reputation he had built over the years as a cricketer. The Board held a meeting with twenty of the top doctors in Lahore for advice on how to proceed and all, except one, said it was not a feasible project. The one doctor who said it was possible to make the Hospital warned it would be impossible to run it with the goal of treating the poor free of cost due to the inherently expensive cancer treatment. Master Plan Dr. Nausherwan K. Burki MB, PhD, FRCP, FCPS, FCCP developed the master plan for the Hospital in 1990, while he was Professor of Medicine at the University of Kentucky, USA. He oversaw the building of the Hospital, which was designed by Graham Rapp of Arrasmith, Judd & Rapp, Architects in Health Planning, Louisville, Kentucky, USA. Design details on site were handled by Messrs. Nayyar Ali Dada and Associates of Lahore. Local engineering was performed by Messrs. Progressive Consultants, Lahore. Pakistan’s first Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, located in Johar Town in Lahore, is built on a 20 acre site. It was planned in three phases with the first one costing nearly US$ 22 million; nearly 67 percent of the required budget came in the form of donations. Dr. Burki remains the Chief Medical Advisor and Member, Board of Governors, continuing to be involved with program development, quality control, and recruitment of consultant staff, as well as Professor of Medicine at the University of Connecticut Health Center, in Farmington, Connecticut, USA. Fundraising After the first one and a half year of fundraising in 1990, when Imran Khan seemed to have exhausted all his resources, he turned to the school children and launched a fundraising team of “Imran’s Tigers”. The Tigers ended up creating history. They stopped motorists at traffic lights and went from door to door to collect funds. They not only collected funds that enabled the construction of the Hospital but also created awareness among the public for the need of the nation’s first cancer hospital. Pakistan's win under Imran Khan’s captaincy in the 1992 Cricket World Cup in Melbourne helped the fundraising efforts. But by 1994, the project was still an uphill battle and at this point, donor fatigue had even exhausted the overseas Pakistanis. The Hospital was planned to open in 1994 but by the October of the same year, US $ 4 million were still needed to materialize this plan. It was only at this point that Imran Khan and his team decided to test the support of the ordinary Pakistanis. They set out on a successful Mass Contact Campaign which started from mid-November and lasted till 28 December 1994. They toured twenty-nine cities and collected US $ 5 million in six weeks from the ordinary people of Pakistan. In the mornings, Imran Khan would address school assemblies and in the evenings he would travel through the streets. The generosity of the people of Pakistan was truly inspiring. By the December of 1994, Imran Khan himself had given almost half of what he owned to the Hospital. During the entire first phase of construction, over a million individual donors, from ordinary citizens to the rich and famous, donated everything from cash, jewelry, and other valuables, to help the first SKMCH&RC transform from a dream to a reality. Inauguration Finally, against all odds, after the completion of the first phase of the Hospital at a cost of US $ 22 million, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre opened its doors to patients on December 29, 1994. Setting a new tradition for Pakistan, the Hospital was not inaugurated by a VIP but by a ten-year-old cancer patient named Sumera Yusuf. SKMCH&RC Today SKMCH&RC Today Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (SKMCH&RC) is indeed a story of success of the collective will of our people and affirmation of some of the greatest positives of our society. Withstanding the test of time, SKMCH&RC is today staffed by highly competent professionals, and has gone from strength to strength, treating thousands of patients. Today, it stands as one of the best cancer centres in the world, which has been built and operated for the past 25 years primarily by philanthropy. With its presence in over fifty cities of Pakistan in the form of Hospitals, Diagnostic Centres, Walk-in-Clinics (cancer screening centres), and Collection Centres, the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust has emerged as one of the most credible charities of Pakistan. SKMCH&RC in Lahore and Peshawar, both have earned the Joint Commission International’s Gold Seal of Approval® for Hospital Accreditation. The World Health Organization and the Human Rights Society of Pakistan have also recognized SKMCH&RC for its contribution towards humanity. The Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust aims to build a series of hospitals in various cities of Pakistan to bring cancer care closer to the patients. Since a quarter of the patients at SKMCH&RC, Lahore belonged to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province of Pakistan, and adjoining areas, the second Hospital was inaugurated in Peshawar, the capital city of KPK on December 29, 2015. Thousands of underprivileged cancer patients continue to suffer in Sind and surrounding areas as they cannot afford to make repeated trips to SKMCH&RC in Lahore or Peshawar. Therefore, the third SKMCH&RC is planned to be built in Karachi where deserving cancer patients would be able to access comprehensive diagnostic and therapeutic cancer facilities under one roof.