Balochistan begins construction of first cancer hospital

QUETTA: The Balochistan government has begun the construction work of its first cancer hospital at the spare land on the premises of Quetta’s Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Hospital, ARY News reported on Friday.

The construction of the special facility for cancer patients will be completed at Quetta’s Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Hospital within two years.

The spokesperson of the provincial health department said that the government had decided to use spare land of Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Hospital in Quetta for the establishment of the province’s first cancer hospital.

Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal had laid the foundation stone of the cancer hospital last year, however, the construction work was postponed due to the spread of coronavirus pandemic, said the spokesperson.

The cancer hospital will be constructed at the cost of Rs1.7 billion in order to provide facilities to Balochistan citizens who are forced to travel to Karachi for getting medical treatment.

In October 2018, Prime Minister Imran Khan had made an announcement for the construction of a cancer hospital in Balochistan with the cooperation of Pakistan Army and the federal government.

The premier had said that the provincial government will provide land to the federal government for the hospital and in this regard, a team of the federal government will visit the province very soon. He added that he had talked to Chief of the Army Staff, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, and the cancer hospital would be built with the cooperation of the army.