Over 5,000 Cancer Patients in Punjab Deprived of Free Medicines Due to Severe Shortage Under Government CML Program; Patients Complain That Buying Costly Drugs Has Become a Massive Financial Burden
LAHORE: More than 5,000 cancer patients have been left without the regular supply of free medicines for the last two months as the provincial government’s exclusive healthcare program is unable to provide them with the support.The provincial government’s specially designed healthcare program is failing to help thousands of cancer patients, leaving more than 5,000 of them in severe difficulty and distress for the last two months.
An acute shortage of critical life-saving drugs such as the blood cancer drug Nilotinib has severely hampered the treatment of patients suffering from cancer under the Punjab government treatment programme for Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML), official sources said. Although the exact cause for the longstanding medicine shortage is not known, those needing the medicines now have to buy them on the open market for a high price.
Highlighting the current situation of cancer patients and the shortage of CML program in Punjab.
High cost to patients: Stricken patients and their families have expressed utter anguish, saying that such medicines, which cost thousands of rupees, are a heavy burden for the poor patients’ families that was struggling with economic hardships.
The registered patients, who regularly visited major medical centers like Mayo Hospital and Jinnah Hospital, Lahore, Allied Hospital, Faisalabad, Nishtar Hospital, Multan, Benazir Bhutto Hospital, Rawalpindi used to be the centers of distribution of medicines for free.
The initiative was initiated by the Punjab government’s flagship scheme for the treatment and supply of essential medicines to cancer patients in 2014 when the Chief Minister of Punjab was Shehbaz Sharif.