State Cancer Therapy Infrastructure to Undergo Massive Development

Honourable Chief Minister Smt. Mamata Banerjee and Union Health Minister Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad inaugurated an all new dual energy linear accelerator at the Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute for advanced treatments of cancer. It is needless to say that this new equipment will facilitate better therapies but what is yet more noteworthy is that such accelerators are available at private cancer hospitals as well but the patients need to pay a massive bill of Rs 1 Lakh per therapy. On the contrary, this government funded facility will be provided free of cost to those, who are unable to afford it and at a nominal rate of Rs 15000 per therapy to the rest.

According to Mr. Azad, the state is going to see a significant development in cancer treatment infrastructure very soon. The setting up of this new accelerator is a major step forward in this regard. Apart from this inauguration which involved an investment of about Rs 22 Crores, a separate campus at Rajarhat will be especially dedicated to cancer which will serve the purpose of a satellite centre. Three more such centres will also be made available in the next few years. Further, three medical colleges are going to undergo massive maintenance at an expense of about Rs 450 Crores and four more institutes will be freshly established after a suitable location is identified for them. In this way Mr. Azad believes, West Bengal will acquire the status of a state ready to appropriately deal with cancer in the near future.