ISLAMABAD: Free treatment of cancer patients at three major medical teaching institutions of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has been hampered due to lack of funds, local media reported on Friday, citing officials.
Pakistan's Health Secretary Shahidullah Khan said he was in contact with the Planning and Development Department for reappropriation of funds to resume treatment of cancer patients, the daily Dawn reported. However, over 1, 000 poor patients already registered for cancer treatment were waiting for drugs at Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) and Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH), Peshawar, and Ayub Teaching Hospital (ATH), Abbottabad.
According to sources, the government needed to release Pakistani Rupees (PKR) 1, 500 million for the free treatment programme for the year 2025-26. However, it had provided PKR 820 million so far, and the remaining PKR 680 million was yet to be released.
So far, 347 patients have received free drugs from ATH from August 2025 to till now. The hospital last received medicines in December 2025, but now the stock is about to run out. Similarly, there is no stock available in KTH, and 623 registered patients are awaiting drugs, Dawn reported.