Expansion of Facilities at Karachi Campus

Inauguration of New Buildings

On his recent trip to Pakistan, His Highness the Aga Khan inaugurated two new buildings at AKU’s Karachi campus: the Rs 500 million Ibn Zuhr Building for oncology services and the Faculty Office Building.

Ibn Zuhr Building

The oncology building is named after the great Muslim physician Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik Ibn Zuhr (1091-1161 AD) who made significant discoveries including clinical description of mediastinal tumours. This state-of-the-art cancer centre offers comprehensive screening, diagnostic and treatment services. It also houses high quality nuclear imaging, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, surgical oncology services and cancer research facilities - all under one roof.

His Highness unveils the plaque at Ibn Zuhr Building.

This new addition to Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) in Karachi is the first of its kind in Sindh and will provide a much needed service in the city. At AKUH alone, approximately 12,000 patients are diagnosed with cancer each year and the Centre is even more critical as the prevalence of cancer continues to rise. According to WHO estimates, two-thirds of all worldwide cancer cases will be observed in developing countries by 2025.

Acknowledging the support of both corporate and individual donors at the building’s inauguration ceremony, His Highness the Aga Khan said, “It is through the generous contribution of donors, that we are able to excel in the area of health care, to recruit the most qualified personnel, and provide facilities and services that are setting the highest standards not only in Pakistan but indeed worldwide.”

The Chancellor also expressed satisfaction that services provided at the Ibn Zuhr Building will be accessible to those who cannot afford the full cost of their treatment, through the support of the University Hospital’s Patient Welfare Programme.

Faculty Office Building

Also during his visit to the campus, the Chancellor inaugurated the new Faculty Office Building, funded by the University. The new building will house 155 faculty and staff from AKUH’s departments of Medicine, Paediatrics and Psychiatry.

His Highness inaugurates the Faculty Office Building.

Touring the facility, His Highness the Aga Khan said, “The new facilities are an expression of the University’s belief that it must care for its faculty and staff, providing them with the most conducive work environment, especially to conduct research.”

Soparivala Building

Earlier in 2005, AKU’s Soparivala Building was inaugurated on August 14. Named after the Soparivala family who generously gifted their estate to AKU, this facility houses the new clinical laboratories. The new laboratories will double AKUH’s existing medical test processing capacity to 10 million tests annually. The Chief Guest at the occasion was Dr Ishrat Hussain, then Governor State Bank of Pakistan, who commented, “I wish His Highness the Aga Khan had established AKU fifty years earlier, which would have meant a significantly larger number of high calibre professionals in service of Pakistan today.” Dr Hussain also commended the Soparivala family for their philanthropic bequest to the University, which has been described as ‘the largest single donation AKU has received so far outside of the Ismaili community in Pakistan.’

(L to R) Dr Ishrat Hussain, then Governor of State Bank, inaugurates the Soparivala building along with his wife Mrs Ishrat Hussain; Ambassador Saidullah Khan Dehlavi, Chairman of AKU Board of Trustees; Mrs Talat Dehlavi; and Mr Shamsh Kassim-Lakha, AKU President.

Admiring the benevolence of Noshir and Mehroo Soparivala, President Kassim-Lakha expressed his gratitude to Mrs Mehroo Soparivala, who upon her death in 1993, gifted a considerable estate to AKU in the form of a building, equities and personal effects, which after liquidation amounted to US $2 million.  The total cost of the Building was Rs 350 million (US $5.9 million), of which the University provided Rs 234 million (US $3.9 million).