The Sindh Health Department has stopped the free provision of a number of cancer drugs to the public hospitals in the province. The unavailability of essential medicines has put the lives of thousands of patients at risk.
According to details, the Health Department had been providing cancer medicines including Glivec, Tasigna, Revolade, and Jakavi to the public free of cost under the Sindh CML (chronic myeloid leukemia) Project.
However, the Health Department had suspended the Sindh CML Project around six months ago, stopping the free supply of life-saving cancer medicines to public hospitals.
Since then, cancer patients have been forced to buy these medicines directly from pharmacies or pharmaceutical companies. As a result, this has put additional financial pressure on the already overburdened cancer patients.
Patients suffering from CML, aplastic anemia, polycythemia vera, myelofibrosis, breast cancer, immune thrombocytopenia, and other chronic health conditions have also tried different ways to arrange cancer medicines for free.
They have formed WhatsApp groups, contacted humanitarian organizations, and approached Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal to arrange the cancer medicines for free but to no avail.
