No government hospital in Karachi or across Sindh offers comprehensive breast cancer treatment. Basic screening services like mammography for early detection are largely unavailable at public, district, and primary healthcare centers. Many teaching hospitals lack one-window treatment facilities, where limited services exist, patient demand far exceeds capacity.
Due to the shortage of facilities in government hospitals, patients face long waiting times for mammography, surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy. This delay worsens the severity of the disease. Every year, around 35,000 new breast cancer cases are reported in Sindh, while the number of existing patients stands at approximately 160,000. This brings the total number of patients in the province to nearly 200,000. Due to government negligence, 90 per cent of patients turn to private hospitals.
A patient’s husband, Ilyas, shared his experience, stating that government hospitals lack proper facilities despite claims of cancer treatment availability. After delays and long waiting lists in public hospitals, he took his wife to a private hospital where she was examined by a breast cancer specialist. Initial tests included mammography followed by a biopsy, which confirmed cancer.
“My wife underwent surgery in a private hospital and then 17 chemotherapy sessions. Each session cost around Rs70,000 including tests, and later at KIRAN Hospital, one session cost Rs40,000. In total, chemotherapy cost around Rs700,000, while overall treatment expenses reached nearly Rs1,000,000,” said Ilyas.
According to clinical oncologists, around 14,000 women die every year due to lack of treatment. At present, Civil Hospital Karachi provides surgery, chemotherapy, and mammography services for cancer patients. Jinnah Hospital offers surgery but lacks chemotherapy medicines. Limited diagnostic facilities are available only at Civil and Jinnah hospitals, while district hospitals in Karachi have none. There is also no cancer registry or reliable patient data at the provincial level.
Radiation therapy is available at Jinnah Hospital but patients are given long waiting dates due to heavy demand, causing distress among patients and their families. Experts state that Pakistan is among the countries in Asia with a high rate of breast cancer.
Government hospitals under the Sindh Health Department do not have their own radiation therapy units. Radiation services at Jinnah Hospital and KIRAN Hospital operate under the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission.
Radiation therapy is available at only a few major private hospitals in Karachi, where each session costs between Rs15,000 to Rs20,000. No district hospital under the health department offers oncology OPDs or cancer treatment services.
Professor Dr Noor Muhammad Soomro, a former head of oncology at Civil Hospital, stated that no government hospital in Sindh offers complete breast cancer treatment. He emphasized that early diagnosis is crucial as treatment becomes very difficult at stage 4.
“Pakistan has only about 70 oncologists which is insufficient for the patient load. Cancer treatment involves three main methods: surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy. Chemotherapy sessions may range from 3 to 18 depending on the stage of the disease, and costs can reach up to Rs500,000 per patient,” noted Dr Soomro.
Civil Hospital Karachi officials said that while surgery, chemotherapy, and mammography are available, radiation therapy is not. However, free chemotherapy is provided to deserving patients despite the high cost of imported medicines.
It is worth noting that the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission operates 19 cancer hospitals nationwide, including five in Sindh. In Karachi, KIRAN Hospital and another facility within Jinnah Hospital provide cancer treatment at significantly lower costs compared to private hospitals—up to 70 to 80 per cent cheaper. However, due to affordability, these facilities are also under immense pressure.
Chemotherapy drugs are imported and their prices are linked to the dollar making treatment expensive overall.