Hospital in Pakistan is a model of cancer treatment for other developing countries

By Ryan Dicovitsky

5 February 2010 [MediaGlobal]: In the late 1980s, a Pakistani woman named Shaukat Khanum was diagnosed with cancer and eventually passed away. Her story wasn’t very different from the millions of individuals suffering from cancer across the globe, but her inspiration would change the lives of Pakistani cancer patients for years to come.

Khanum’s son, cricket star Imran Khan, realized soon after his mother’s death that multitudes of his fellow Pakistanis likely suffered from a similar lack of cancer treatments. By 1989, Khan had begun fundraising for the construction and operation of what would become the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Center in Lahore. Today, the 16-year-old institution is one of the world’s leading cancer treatment centers and doubles as a potential model of how developing countries can implement proper cancer treatment and care.

The Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Center is an example of how cancer institutions could be successful in the developing world. (Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Dr. Nausherwan K. Burki sits on the Board of Governors for the hospital and also acts as the major medical advisor. In addition to his work in Lahore recruiting personnel and overseeing the hospital’s services, he is a Professor at the University of Connecticut Health Center. Burki travelled to New York on 4 February for the commemoration of World Cancer Day and to discuss the ongoing challenges of rising cancer rates worldwide. Speaking to representatives of nongovernmental organizations, he emphasized that world-class cancer treatment can happen in poorer countries and pointed to Shaukat Khanum Hospital as an example.

Burki told MediaGlobal, “We should give patients the best care possible” regardless of income. He pointed out that “when a patient is in [our] hospital, you cannot tell” his/her income.

Burki’s comments were representative of the most compelling aspect of the hospital: its finances. Shaukat Khanum Hospital’s external funding is comprised entirely from donors, accounting for 20 percent of total income. The remaining 80 percent of revenue is comprised of 50 percent from billing and 29 percent from Zakat (the charitable donation many Muslims make in accordance with their faith.) The weight of the hospital’s financing is striking: its income is roughly $33 million, the same as the entire health budget of the province it is located in, Punjab.

Although exactly half of the hospital’s finances are derived from charging patients, no one has ever been turned away because they lack the means to pay for their care. Without charitable funding, that successes might not be as prolific. “We are amazed by the outpouring of funds and goodwill,” said Burki.

The hospital, which is more technologically advanced than many American cancer centers and performs the same functions as its counterparts in richer countries, might be a good model for other developing countries. The hospital has achieved a near-complete paperless records system thanks to in-house computer experts, something Burki noted isn’t even the case in American institutions with which he has worked. Furthermore, newly finished intensive care wards provide state of the art comfort and treatment, and the institution has full programs in education, including the only nursing oncology program in the region. As a result of the hospital’s success, it is beginning to export its model to other hospitals in southeast Asia.

The tone of Burki’s presentation was only amplified by a video preceding his speech featuring a young Tanzanian girl named Mariam who passed away from cancer at the age of 13. Mariam’s story was meant to illustrate the shocking lack of cancer treatment in the developing world; oftentimes, developing and rural areas have no cancer treatment outlets, forcing the poor to make expensive trips to far-away, overcrowded hospitals, or suffer from their diseases without treatment.

If implemented successfully elsewhere, the example of Shaukat Khanum Hospital might change the lives of patients like Mariam. Burki acknowledged that starting a hospital like his isn’t easy, and noted that he and Khan never expected the hospital to be such a wild success.

Burki explained, “First, there needs to be an impetus from within the country” to establish a cancer treatment facility. Most importantly, he stressed that the founders of a hospital and its stakeholders have to have a “clear vision” of how they will run the operation, and “have to be dedicated to the cause.”

When Shaukat Khanum Hospital was founded, it required an initial $10.5 million for investment in starting equipment. Even today, the price of updating technology continues to rise. Such financial burdens may put off those who have the means to fund similar hospitals throughout the developing world. However, Shaukat Khanum Hospital has been able to continue thanks to the dedication and generosity of those who want to help the world’s disadvantaged. Burki believes that if those sort of dedicated people mobilize resources elsewhere, the results could be the same. As he put it, “to paraphrase our President Obama, yes we can.”