Sherry Rehman Seeks Free Breast Cancer Screening
Pakistan Peoples Party Vice President Senator Sherry Rehman has called for partnerships between the business community and diagnostic laboratories to provide free or subsidised breast cancer screening. The Sherry Rehman free breast cancer screening proposal includes a special campaign for women in October 2027, and a pilot programme in Rawalpindi and Islamabad that could later expand nationwide.
Rehman made the proposal while addressing a breast cancer symposium organised by the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) via Zoom on Thursday. She urged the chamber to bring three major diagnostic laboratories together to explore providing free or subsidised screening, saying such an initiative would mark significant progress in improving early diagnosis.
Sherry Rehman free breast cancer screening: what she proposed
Rehman proposed launching a pilot screening programme in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, with the possibility of expanding it across the country. She called on businesses to make breast cancer screening part of their corporate social responsibility programmes, including services for female employees and for the female family members of male employees.
She also proposed inviting laboratory representatives to discuss practical arrangements for free or discounted screening. She pledged to encourage other political leaders to support the initiative, and said parliament could serve as a platform for bringing together business leaders, civil society and other stakeholders to discuss awareness and access to diagnostic facilities.
The proposal is not a government programme yet. It is a call for a partnership between business, laboratories and political leaders, with a pilot first and a national campaign in October 2027 as the longer-term goal.
Why early screening matters, in Rehman’s account
Rehman said one in every nine women in Pakistan faces the risk of breast cancer, while many cases remain undiagnosed and patients go without timely treatment. She highlighted the limited availability of screening and diagnostic facilities in remote and rural areas, and identified social stigma and cultural barriers as obstacles to awareness and early diagnosis.
Many women, she said, do not know where to access screening services. She stressed that breast cancer should not be regarded solely as a women’s issue, and called for wider public awareness and improved access to diagnosis and treatment.
She also expressed concern about Pakistan’s high breast cancer burden compared with other Asian countries, saying registry figures understate the problem because many cases go unreported.
Sharing her personal experience, Rehman said her mother had also suffered from breast cancer. She commended the RCCI for organising the symposium, saying the business community can play an important role in addressing social challenges.
The gaps a pilot would need to close
A Rawalpindi and Islamabad pilot would test the proposal in two cities with relatively strong laboratory and hospital networks. The harder test would come in the expansion phase, where Rehman’s own account points to the gaps: limited facilities in remote and rural areas, stigma that keeps women from seeking screening, and a lack of information about where screening is available.
Business involvement could help with cost, but it does not by itself solve the other two barriers. A pilot that only reaches women who already know about screening, and who live near a laboratory, would not answer the rural access question. The laboratory talks will therefore need to cover not only price, but also where screening is offered, how women are told about it, and how follow-up treatment is arranged.
Feature Pakistan reported on Pakistan’s pink-day breast cancer awareness activity around the England ODI series, and Feature Pakistan reported on the PCB’s breast cancer awareness day during the same series. Those events raised visibility. Rehman’s proposal is different in kind: it asks for screening itself, free or subsidised, rather than awareness alone.
What happens next
The next step, on Rehman’s account, is a meeting with laboratory representatives to discuss practical arrangements. That meeting will show whether three major laboratories are willing to offer free or discounted screening, and on what terms.
If a pilot starts in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, its results will matter for the October 2027 campaign. Clear uptake and a workable route from screening to treatment would give the national campaign a stronger base, while a pilot that stalls on price, location or follow-up would show where the plan needs to change.
