Philanthropy

Imran Khan's mother, Shaukat Khanum, died of colon cancer in 1985. During her illness, Khan saw something that stayed with him: poor patients with no access to treatment and no money to pay for it. There was not a single specialized cancer center in the country. A cancer diagnosis was, for most Pakistanis, a death sentence.

He decided to build one. At a 1990 meeting of twenty top doctors in Lahore, nineteen said the project was not feasible. He went ahead anyway.

The Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust was established in 1991. Money was the problem from the start. Khan donated the entirety of his 1992 World Cup prize money, £90,000, to the project. For years after, he gave 15 to 20 percent of his annual earnings to the hospital fund.

He organized cricket matches, concerts, and dinners across Pakistan and in London. Amitabh Bachchan, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and Madam Noor Jehan performed at fundraising events. By late 1994, the hospital was nearly finished but still short. Khan launched a six-week campaign across thirty cities, speaking at school assemblies and street gatherings. The campaign raised £1.5 million from over a million individual donors.

The hospital opened on 29 December 1994 in Lahore. Today SKMCH operates three locations across Pakistan, having treated over 127,900 patients. Over 75 percent receive completely free care. The rest get heavily subsidized treatment. A rigorous intake process ensures the hospital only accepts patients it can treat effectively.

In a historic milestone, SKMCH achieved certification by the Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI) Program of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, placing Pakistan at the forefront of cancer care globally. The rigorous evaluation demonstrated the hospital's commitment to delivering exceptional cancer care that is financially accessible.

• Peshawar Hospital

  Opened in 2015, extending cancer care to the northern provinces.

• Karachi Hospital

  Third center scheduled to open in December 2026.

• Research Wing

  Laboratories, clinical trials, and an epidemiology division.

In 2002, Khan won his first National Assembly seat from Mianwali, one of the poorest constituencies in the country. He started thinking about what he could do for the people who had voted for him. The answer was a university.

Namal College opened in 2008, initially affiliated with the University of Bradford. It is now Namal University, a STEM-focused institution in Mianwali. Ninety percent of its students come from low-income backgrounds and study on need-based or merit-based scholarships.

Khan's philanthropy came before his political career, not after. Most South Asian politicians build hospitals once they have power. He built his as a retired cricketer. No political office. No state backing. The hospital ran on his own money, his fame, and the trust of ordinary Pakistanis.

When he entered politics in 1996, he was not just a cricketer asking for votes. He was a man who had already built something real that had treated thousands of people for free. That gave him a moral authority his opponents never had.