Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centres (SKMCH&RC) are state-of-the-art cancer centres located in Lahore and Peshawar, Pakistan. SKMCH&RC, Lahore was the first project of the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust, which is a charitable organization established under the Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860 of Pakistan.
Inspiration for making the Hospital
Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre is the brainchild of Pakistan's Cricket World Cup winning captain and the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Imran Khan. The inspiration to build the Hospital came after his mother, Mrs. Shaukat Khanum, succumbed to cancer in 1985. During his mother's illness, he witnessed up-close the plight of poor cancer patients in the hospitals of Pakistan and realised the need for a specialized cancer centre in his country. Being a developing country, where many do not have access to even elementary health care facilities, cancer was considered the ultimate symbol of hopelessness and almost certain death. Prior to the establishment of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre in Lahore, no specialised institution for the comprehensive treatment of cancer existed in Pakistan. Imran Khan therefore decided to embark upon his dream of making cancer care accessible to the people of his country, regardless of their ability to pay. Hence, began the story of the enduring love of a son for his mother and of the passion of a nation.
The beginning of a great journey
The first fundraising dinner in support of the project was held in 1988 in Dubai, where Imran Khan was playing at the time, in a cricket tournament. As donations started pouring in, he knew there was no turning back. After he returned to Pakistan, he gathered a team of eminent individuals from diverse backgrounds and formed the Board of Governors of the newly established Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust. Initially, Imran faced scepticism from friends as well as many experts in the field of medicine, who told him his idea would fail and that he would end up hurting the reputation he had built over the years as a cricketer. The Board held a meeting with twenty of the top doctors in Lahore for advice on how to proceed, where all but one said that the project was not feasible. The one doctor who said it was possible to make the Hospital, warned that it would be impossible to provide free cancer treatment for the needy, given how expensive cancer treatment was.
Fundraising
By 1990, after one and a half years of fundraising, Imran seemed to have exhausted all his options, with only limited funds having been collected. He turned then to school children, launching a fundraising team of "Imran's Tigers". The Tigers ended up creating history, collecting donations from motorists at traffic lights, and going from door to door to collect funds. They not only collected enough money to allow the construction of the Hospital but also created awareness among the public of the need for the nation's first cancer hospital.
Pakistan's win, under Imran Khan's captaincy, in the 1992 Cricket World Cup in Melbourne helped boost fundraising efforts, but by 1994, the project was still short of funds and, by now donor fatigue had set in at home and amongst overseas Pakistanis. The Hospital was planned to open in late 1994 but in October of that year, US$ 4 million were still needed to complete and to equip the Hospital. It was at this point that Imran Khan and his team decided to test the support of ordinary Pakistanis. They set out on a hugely successful mass contact campaign which started in mid-November and lasted until 28 December, 1994. They toured twenty-nine cities across Pakistan, collecting US$ 5 million in this six week period from the ordinary people of Pakistan. In the mornings, Imran Khan would address school assemblies and in the evenings he would travel through the streets. The generosity of the people of Pakistan was truly inspiring. By December 1994,