Thousands of blood cancer patients in Punjab are facing serious hardship after a three-month disruption in the supply of free medicines under the provincial government’s programme for chronic myeloid leukaemia, a form of blood cancer that requires continuous, long-term treatment. Around 5,000 patients are registered under the programme, which provides four types of cancer medicines free of charge through five designated hospitals across the province.
The hospitals in the programme are Mayo Hospital and Jinnah Hospital in Lahore, Nishtar Hospital in Multan, Benazir Bhutto Hospital in Rawalpindi and Allied Hospital in Faisalabad. That spread is deliberate: it means patients from different parts of Punjab can collect their medicines without travelling to a single centre. Under normal circumstances, patients collect their medicines every month, a routine that becomes part of life for people living with a chronic condition. When that routine breaks down for more than three months, the consequences are not merely inconvenient; for a disease that must be kept under continuous control, a gap in treatment can allow the condition to progress.
The suspension, according to reports, stems from delays in the government’s procurement and bidding process. Procurement of specialised medicines is a complex exercise, involving specifications, tenders, quality checks and delivery schedules, and any delay at one stage can hold up the whole chain. But for patients, the administrative reason matters less than the practical result. The shortage has forced many to buy expensive medicines from private pharmacies, where the drugs are also reported to be in short supply. For families already stretched by the costs of a serious illness, from travel to hospital to time away from work, the sudden need to pay for medicines that were supposed to be free can be devastating.
Medical experts have warned that prolonged interruptions in treatment pose serious health risks, particularly for patients who cannot afford to buy the medicines themselves. One of the affected drugs, nilotinib, illustrates why continuity matters. It is a targeted therapy used for certain patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia, designed to block the abnormal protein that drives the disease, and it typically requires long-term treatment under specialist supervision. Stopping and restarting such therapy is not like missing a painkiller; it can affect how well the disease is controlled and may complicate later treatment. That is why specialists stress adherence, and why a three-month gap is a clinical concern as well as a financial one.
Punjab Health Minister Khwaja Salman Rafique has acknowledged the shortage and said the government is working to restore supplies. He explained that leading oncologists had recommended, during consultations held about a year ago, expanding the number of prescribed cancer medicines under the programme from four to 27. That recommendation reflects how cancer treatment has evolved: as new targeted therapies become available, specialists want to offer patients the most appropriate drug for their particular form of the disease, rather than being limited to a small list. Following the recommendation, the health department began a centralised procurement process for multiple medicines, while some drugs were already available in government stocks.
The move from four medicines to 27 is ambitious, and a larger list means more tenders, more suppliers and more opportunities for delay. If the transition is not managed carefully, patients on the existing list can suffer while the expanded list is still being put in place. Expansion must therefore be phased in a way that protects existing supply, with bridging arrangements before old contracts end.
As an immediate response, provincial health authorities have authorised the five designated hospitals to buy medicines locally under the Local Purchase arrangement. That temporary measure is intended to ensure availability while the centralised procurement process continues. Local purchase can be faster than a central tender, because hospitals can buy from nearby suppliers, but it also tends to be more expensive and less predictable, which is why it is normally used as a stopgap rather than a permanent system. Its success will depend on whether hospitals can actually find the medicines, at prices they can afford, and get them to patients quickly.
The minister has expressed hope that the shortage will be resolved soon and that patients will resume receiving free medicines at the designated hospitals. Hope, however, needs to be matched by a clear timeline that patients can rely on. People living with chronic myeloid leukaemia plan their lives around monthly collection dates, blood tests and specialist appointments. Uncertainty about when free supply will resume makes that planning impossible and adds anxiety to an already stressful illness.
For the 5,000 registered patients, the priority now is simple and urgent: reliable access to their medicines, free of charge, at their designated hospital, without further months of paying out of pocket or going without. The local purchase authorisation is a step in that direction, but only the restoration of regular, centralised supply will give patients the certainty they need. Until that happens, every week of delay is a week in which some of Punjab’s most vulnerable patients are left to bear, alone, a cost that the state had promised to carry for them.
