Holy Family Hospital Rawalpindi starts free cryoablation for small cancer tumours

Holy Family Hospital Rawalpindi has started cryoablation, a treatment that destroys cancer tumours by freezing them, free of charge for eligible patients, ProPakistani reported on 26 September 2026. Patients do not pay any fee, although each procedure uses a single-use probe that costs about Rs 1.6 million.

What cryoablation is

A thin probe is guided into the tumour and cools it to about minus 180 degrees, then warms it to up to 100 degrees, killing the cancer cells without open surgery. It suits small, well-defined tumours.

Who qualifies

• Patients with liver, lung, breast or kidney cancer.
• The tumour must be 2 centimetres or smaller. Larger tumours are not eligible.
• First phase: 15 patients.

How patients are selected

Screening has begun at four hospitals:

1. Holy Family Hospital, Rawalpindi
2. Benazir Bhutto Hospital, Rawalpindi
3. Rawalpindi Teaching Hospital
4. Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute (PKLI), Lahore

Selected patients are then assessed by specialists at NORI Hospital, Islamabad before the procedure. No separate online registration has been announced, so the route in is through the oncology or relevant outpatient department at one of these hospitals, with your biopsy report and latest CT or MRI scan showing the tumour size.

What it means for families

At Rs 1.6 million for the probe alone, cryoablation is out of reach for most families in private hospitals. If a relative has a small tumour in one of these four organs, ask the treating consultant whether they fit the 2 cm rule and request a referral before the first phase fills.

More public cancer and imaging capacity in Punjab

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has separately directed that a new CT scan machine be installed in every district of the province, alongside telemedicine centres, the upgrade of 300 rural health centres into hospitals and the hiring of 40,000 health workers. No timeline or number of machines has been published yet, but more district scanners would shorten the wait for the scans that decide whether a tumour is small enough to qualify.

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