Houstonians Raised Over $300,000 For Imran Khan Cancer Appeal

Houston, Texas: “When I came last two times to Houston, not many people turned up for our fundraisers. However Sajjad Burki remained persistent and today I am happy that you all have come in huge numbers to support Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Center (SKMCH&RC):” These were the sentiments of Imran Khan, Former International Cricketer and Chairman Board of Governors for Shaukat Khanum Trust (SKT), as over $300,000 funds were raised for SKMCH&RC by around 600 attendees at Sugar Land Marriott. A day earlier, $175,000 were raised in Dallas.
Several persons said that this was one of the best ever fundraising events of the Pakistani Community in Houston. Small children were coming to the stage giving pledges on behalf of their parents and giving their pocket monies. Two bats signed by Imran Khan saying congratulations on Pakistan Cricket Team Twenty/20 World Cup win and appreciation for attending the fundraiser were auctioned bringing around $15,000. Atmosphere was quite overwhelming and Imran Khan was seen in high spirits.
Dr. Nausherwan Burki (MB, PhD, FRCP, FCPS, FCCP), of the University of Kentucky Medical Center, Lexington, Kentucky, USA and Master Planner of this who project, gave salient features about the growth of SKMCH&RC. He informed that the latest USA Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare (JCAHO) Standards are met by the hospital and every effort is done to provide the state of the art He showed some of the latest machinery, which is necessary for the Lahore and the upcoming Karachi hospitals. Annual budget is about US $30 million.
In Year 2000, the hospital received patients admissions of 2,599, which increased by 134% to 6,079 in the Year 2008. 70% of these patients received financial assistance for their treatment.
“Many experts believe that a hospital providing more than 5% Free treatment, cannot survive more than few months. When initially I went to cities worldwide to raise funds, Pakistani Doctors in various countries told me that I am pursuing something impossible. As such when I look at SKMCH&RC today, it is indeed a miracle of God, where due to Him, we are able to provide Free Services to about 70% patients every year. My faith in God has become solid after I started this project of epic proportions. We started a 70 Crore Rupees Project with 1 Crore Rupees in the Bank. Whenever we thought now we are going to stop our operations due to lack of money, all of a sudden we used to get very nice funds and worked continued and now I have firm belief that God will take care of everything in the future. Of course human put efforts, after that it is God, who makes the things happen,” said Imran Khan.
For more information on SKMCH&RC, one can visit www.ShaukatKhanum.Org.PK [1]