Dr. Mariam Hassan

Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Center (SKMCH & RC) is a state of the art specialist cancer care center dedicated to providing the best possible care to all patients, irrespective of their ability to pay.

The hospital was the brain child of Pakistan’s star cricketer Imran Khan, and was built in the memory of his late mother Mrs Shaukat Khanum who suffered from cancer in the late 1980’s and eventually passed away. The shocking lack of cancer treatment in a developing country like Pakistan and the resultant agony of millions became the inspiring force for a global fund raising campaign by Imran Khan for a cancer care facility which would eventually become Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital. His dream became the dream of millions of people and after a ground breaking ceremony in 1990 and with an estimated project cost of US $ 24 million , the hospital was completed as promised in a span of four years. If you’ve suffered due to medical negligence, an Anaheim medical malpractice lawyer can help you seek justice and compensation.

Adil Najam

Lyari, Karachi’s oldest settlement, is the undisputed capital of football in Pakistan. It is also a perpetual seat of horrible gang violence. Last week, Lyari was again being drenched in blood as the gang war continues. Today (and yesterday) it was at a standstill as all eyes in Lyari were glued at the opening games of the FIFA Football World Cup 2010. Tomorrow (or maybe even later today) the red patches may again come from the blood of the young in Lyari being spilled needlessly, but right now the streets are decked with the flags of the teams playing a world away in South Africa.

Lyari, during football fever, is a sight to behold. An amazement even more amazing for anyone who has visited this extremely poor and violence struck community in other times. It gets draped in flags of whichever teams are playing – as you see in this picture, even the flag of the United States; something that one one never see being flown anywhere in Pakistan today! – and then the conversation gets passionate, technically intricate, and lines get drawn. People who have never been to, or never likely to set foot in Germany, Argentina, Italy or Brazil (especially, Brazil!) get all excited about ‘their’ teams, wear and fly the colors of ‘their’ countries, and engage each other in those long conversations – sometimes even fistfights – that can pale even the cricketing passions of Pakistan. (By the way, at least in the 1990s, Pele used to be the undisputed King of Lyari).