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Review
. 2020 Jun;3(3):e1245.
doi: 10.1002/cnr2.1245. Epub 2020 Apr 20.

A review of access to cancer facilities in Punjab, Pakistan

Muhammad Abbas Khokhar  1 , Muhammad Mohsin Ali  2 , Samrin Liaqat  1 , Arif Moin  3 , Hafiz Abubakar Sarwar  4 , Muhammad Zeeshan Sarwar  5
Affiliations
Review

A review of access to cancer facilities in Punjab, Pakistan

Muhammad Abbas Khokhar et al. Cancer Rep (Hoboken). 2020 Jun.

Abstract

Background: Punjab is the most populous province of Pakistan, with only 12 countries in the world succeeding it in terms of population.

Aims: This review article has the objective of providing novel statistics regarding available cancer therapeutics in Punjab across four different sectors-including government, semi-private, trust and private sectors.

Methods and results: Keywords such as "cancer treatment," "facilities," "Pakistan," were used to search Pubmed Database. 36 results were generated: after sifting based on a personal reference list as well as for relevance, 16 articles were finally reviewed. Novel statistics regarding current state of access to cancer facilities were drawn from personal references as well as from studies conducted in other LMICs. There is a gross deficit of oncological services in Punjab, with the ratio of medical oncologists to population being 0.027 per 100, 000, and every oncologist checking 1300-1500 patients annually. Only 21.4% of the population has access to radiotherapy facilities. Major problems include lack of healthcare professional awareness; poor infrastructure including drug access, radiotherapy, and cancer pain management facilities; lack of planning; and lack of educational and research programs.

Conclusions: Improving education & training, developing infrastructure based on public-private-partnership models, building cancer registries and organizing national cancer screening programs, as well as encouraging basic health education and research in oncology, are measures that can ensure Punjab's healthcare delivery system becomes capable of handling increasing incident burden of cancer.

Keywords: delivery of health care; health education; oncology; pain management; public-private sector partnerships.

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Conflict of interest statement

No conflicts of interest are declared.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Incident burden of various cancers in Pakistan. Projected from Punjab Cancer Registry Data2, 5
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Major problems in access to cancer therapeutics in Pakistan
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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    1. Punjab Cancer Registry Report‐2017 . Punjab Cancer Registry; 2019. http://punjabcancerregistry.org.pk/reports/PCR_2017.pdf. Accessed March 7, 2019.

MeSH terms