RAWALPINDI: The Punjab government has installed a cryoablation treatment facility at Holy Family Hospital (HFH) for cancer patients in the Potohar region free of cost, and screening of patients has started.
Talking to Dawn, HFH Medical Superintendent Dr Ijaz Butt said the machine had been installed at the hospital and screening of patients had started for the treatment of cancerous tumours with the help of the Nuclear Medicine Oncology and Radiotherapy Institute (NORI), Islamabad.
Cryoablation is a minimally invasive medical procedure that uses extreme cold to freeze and destroy abnormal tissues or tumours.
When pointed out that there was no oncology department in the hospital, he said that initially, radiologists and specialists from NORI would screen the patients to start the work.
“PC-I is being prepared to establish a 100-bed cancer tower in the hospital where oncologists will work and provide treatment to cancer patients free of cost. The Punjab government has asked [us] to complete the PC-I work as soon as possible,” he said.
It may be mentioned here that the cryoablation facility was brought to Pakistan from China, where Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz had observed the advanced cancer treatment technology at Xi Ji Tan and Hygea Medical Technologies.
In the initial phase, the treatment facility was introduced at Mayo Hospital, Lahore, and now the government has introduced the treatment in Rawalpindi at Holy Family Hospital and Nishtar Hospital, Multan.
Dr Butt said that cryoablation was a minimally invasive, image-guided procedure that used extreme cold to destroy diseased tissue, such as tumours, by creating a localised ice ball. It is commonly used for cancer treatment, specifically in the liver, kidney, lung, prostate and breast, or for pain management, offering faster recovery and less pain than surgery.
About the cost of treatment, the HFH medical superintendent said the treatment would be free of cost and all the financial burden would be borne by the government. He said a single cryoablation probe was used during the tumour-freezing procedure for one person and cost more than Rs1.6 million.
In all three government-run hospitals in Rawalpindi city, there is no oncology department to treat cancer patients, and they have to go to private hospitals in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
A senior doctor of Rawalpindi Medical University told Dawn that cancer patients had been asked to go to private clinics and hospitals as the government had failed to introduce the department in government-run hospitals. He said patients arriving with complaints of tumours and cancer were treated like common patients, as there was no department where senior doctors could examine and diagnose cancer.
“We have no option but to advise the patients to go to private clinics. As many as 50 patients arrived with cancer in each government-run hospital in Rawalpindi but received no treatment,” he said. He said that with the help of overseas doctors, a cancer treatment centre had been established at Holy Family Hospital in the past, but consultants from NORI and overseas doctors ran it on a charity basis.
However, its capacity was not enough to manage the patients, and they were referred to NORI or CMH.
Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2026
