High costs force a quarter of JPMC cancer patients to stop treatment

At the concluding session of the Breastcon 2026 conference, officials warned that roughly a quarter of cancer patients at Karachi's Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre abandon their treatment because the cost of newer immunotherapies and targeted drugs is prohibitive. The public hospital offers surgery and radiotherapy at no charge, but total care expenses—including medicines, injections and complication management—range from Rs3 million to Rs4 million.

Dr Ghulam Haider, head of oncology, urged permanent state assistance, stressing that reliance on philanthropists, charities and Zakat funds is erratic and leads to treatment interruptions. He described patients who run out of resources, return later with larger tumours, and face poorer outcomes. Other speakers highlighted delays in breast cancer diagnosis caused by social pressures, misconceptions and cost concerns, and called for better screening, a national registry, and affordable generic medicines.