Islamabad, April 17 : Free treatment of cancer patients at three major medical teaching institutions of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has been hampered due to lack of funds, local media reported on Friday, citing officials.

Pakistan's Health Secretary Shahidullah Khan said he was in contact with the Planning and Development Department for reappropriation of funds to resume treatment of cancer patients, the daily Dawn reported. However, over 1,000 poor patients already registered for cancer treatment were waiting for drugs at Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) and Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH), Peshawar, and Ayub Teaching Hospital (ATH), Abbottabad.

According to sources, the government needed to release Pakistani Rupees (PKR) 1,500 million for the free treatment programme for the year 2025-26. However, it had provided PKR 820 million so far, and the remaining PKR 680 million was yet to be released.

So far, 347 patients have received free drugs from ATH from August 2025 to till now. The hospital last received medicines in December 2025, but now the stock is about to run out. Similarly, there is no stock available in KTH, and 623 registered patients are awaiting drugs, Dawn reported.

Oncologists linked with the free medication initiative stated that over 10,000 patients had benefited from the programme since its beginning. The oncologists said the programme was launched for all patients, and the hospitals could not deny treatment to those who were in the last stage of cancer. According to oncologists, the stoppage of free medication might cause the death of many patients, as medicines are very expensive.

Meanwhile, prices of medicines have increased in the open market and the pharmaceutical hub of Bohor Bazaar in Pakistan's Rawalpindi, with prices rising from 50 per cent to as high as 500 per cent, local media reported.

Prices of essential medicines, including those for diabetes and hypertension, antibiotics, gastrointestinal conditions, and cough, have increased. The price of an insulin injection device in the open market has increased from Pakistani Rupees (PKR) 2,200 to PKR 4,720, The Express Tribune reported.

The cost of vitamin B supplements has increased from PKR 500 to PKR 600. Similarly, the price of a packet of indigestion and acidity medication has increased from PKR 530 to PKR 620. The price of a pack of nutritional supplements and vitamin tablets has increased from PKR 480 to PKR 510.

The price of thyroid medicine has increased from PKR 85 to PKR 290. Meanwhile, the price for a commonly used typhoid treatment has increased from PKR 805 to PKR 930. Prices of several other life-saving medicines have also increased.

Critics have termed the increase "unbearable", stressing that insulin devices reaching between PKR 2,000 and PKR 5,000 deprive patients with low-income to access essential treatment and have urged the government to intervene.

/IANS