I happened to visit Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad on 25th June 2026 at around 8:30 pm to inquire about my school junior, Shah Faisal Khan, who was admitted to the A4 block.
Since I was on my bicycle, I wanted to leave my helmet and saddle bag with security for safekeeping. However, security directed me to unlocked steel cupboards marked “Patients,” where visitors are expected to leave their belongings at the mercy of God.
As I stepped inside, the central cooling was so soothing it felt ecstatic, like a journey from hell to heaven. The well-planned building and professional management almost convinced me this was the foremost and ultimate in healthcare. Yet, despite being a high-end private facility, its hardcore profit-making corporate practices run contrary to many medical ethics. Still, Pakistanis consider it a social status symbol to have their dying loved ones treated there.
When I went up to Level 4, I found my school junior in critical condition due to lymphoma, a rare cancer of the immune system. His brother and I met Dr. Ali, who was on duty, and found the young doctor evasive when asked about the prognosis of the terminally ill patient.
The hospital has led the patient’s family to believe that once the infection is treated, cancer treatment will follow. This is despite the fact that the patient underwent chemotherapy recently, and the infection stems from the collapse of his own immune system, which can no longer protect itself. The young doctor was understandably wary of losing a patient, as each breath taken under their roof pays for his salary and the grand upkeep of the hospital.
As I stepped out to collect my helmet and saddle bag from the steel cabinet next to the main security gate, I thought to at least disinfect my hands. I spotted a white hand sanitizer bottle on the rack behind the security staff. As I moved to use it, a lady security guard interrupted me, saying the bottle was always empty. I checked it myself anyway and was disappointed by the irresponsibility of what is supposedly one of the country’s best medical facilities.
Disheartened, I rode my bicycle back home and recalled the ordeal of another school fellow, Hasan Khalid, who lives next door in I-8. His late asthmatic mother was admitted to this very hospital, contracted a lung infection there, and lost her life. That thought made me worry for the many vulnerable hospital visitors with low immunity, whether children or the elderly, who don’t realize they are visiting “Bacteria HQ.” There seems to be less focus on fighting germs—the root cause of most diseases—than on making money.