Pink Ribbon announces plan to build breast cancer hospital in Karachi

Pakistan has the highest rate of breast cancer among all Asian countries. One out of nine women in Pakistan is likely to suffer from breast cancer. It is due to years of awareness campaigns that many women are able to get the disease diagnosed at early stages and get cured.

Pink Ribbon Pakistan Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Omer Aftab said this on Sunday while addressing a fundraising event for the under-construction Pink Ribbon Hospital Lahore, which would be the first health facility of the country exclusively for the treatment of breast cancer.

He said that the construction of the Pink Ribbon Hospital Lahore was compromised due to the Covid-19 situation but currently the building had been 60 per cent completed with the help of donations.

As the first block of the building was complete, the Pink Ribbon had procured diagnostic machines, breast ultrasound and a 3D mammogram, he explained. He informed the gathering that ultrasound was operational at the OPD whereas the 3D mammogram facility would start in December. Numbers of walk-in symptomatic patients were increasing day by day and the Pink Ribbon had provided OPD services to hundreds of women, he added.

The Pink Ribbon CEO said that although the hospital was being built in Lahore, the most of the donations for the health facility had come from Karachi. He announced that the Pink Ribbon planned to build a similar health facility in Karachi as well.

He asked the affluent people to donate funds for the health facility, which, he said, would provide affordable treatment to the patients of breast cancer. He added that 100 per cent free of charge treatment would be provided to the deserving patients.

Held at the Avari Towers, the event was the fifth fundraising event for the hospital. It attracted top corporate sponsors, donors, supporters and advertisers. A play, titled ‘Aurat Art’, was also staged at the event. It was an adaptation of Yasmina Reza’s play Art.

The adaptation and direction was by Sameena Nazir. Introducing the play, she said it was 60 minutes long, which could be a long duration for some as our attention span has been shrinking in the current age. She said the play was about human relations and friendships and explored how people understood or failed to understand each other.

According to the Pink Ribbon, approximately 90,000 cases of breast cancer are diagnosed and over 40,000 women die of the disease ever year in Pakistan. Low level of female literacy, cultural beliefs, taboos, and myths and misconceptions hindered early diagnosis and treatment of the disease. With early detection, the chance of curing breast cancer is over 90 per cent. The Pink Ribbon campaign focuses on spreading awareness and establishing Pakistan's first dedicated breast cancer hospital. The Pink Ribbon Pakistan has been working to save thousands of precious lives from breast cancer since 2004.