A ceremony was held to sign an agreement for the provision of free medicines to cancer patients under a public private partnership.
During the ceremony, the Federal Secretary for Health, while giving a briefing, said that free medicines will be provided to cancer patients from Islamabad, Azad Kashmir, and Gilgit Baltistan.
The medicines will be provided through joint cooperation between the Government of Pakistan and the multinational pharmaceutical company Roche. Under this five year agreement, thousands of cancer patients at PIMS Hospital will benefit.
Federal Minister for Health Mustafa Kamal has signed the agreement to provide free medicines to cancer patients under the public private partnership, while the managing director of the private pharmaceutical company also signed the agreement.
The Health Minister said that in Pakistan, 13 million people have fallen below the poverty line due to various diseases. Cancer is a fatal disease and its treatment is extremely expensive. Over five years, Rs9.8 million is spent on the treatment of a single cancer patient.
He said that under this agreement, on a first come first served basis, every 741 patients will receive free treatment worth approximately Rs10 million per patient. The treatment facility will be available at PIMS Hospital for patients from Islamabad, Azad Kashmir, and Gilgit Baltistan.
