Rs 1,000 cr proposal for cancer care in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has made a provision of Rs 1000 crores to make cancer care accessible to people across the state at affordable rates.

The government has worked out a roadmap for implementation of Odisha Comprehensive Cancer Care Programme.

Initially, Rs 1,000 crore has been provisioned for the programme which will be shared by Odisha government and Tata Trust on 50:50 basis.

The roadmap has been prepared in the first advisory committee meeting held under the chairmanship of chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi here on Monday.

Padhi said one Special Purpose Vehicle called Odisha Cancer Care Foundation will be constituted as a management entity to monitor the programme.

The advisory committee decided to put in place a 3-Tire clinical care model along with a 4^th Tire of intensive screening, awareness and palliative care at community level.

Around 15 clinical units with different levels of treatment facilities will be set up at various parts of the Odisha.

One state-of-the-art Tata Memorial Hospital will be established at Bhubaneswar which will serve as a Level-1 hospital with all types of super specialty care.

The Odisha government will provide 25 acres of land free of cost for establishment of the hospital.

Earlier on May 6, the Tata Trusts had inked a formal agreement with the state government to establish an apex cancer care centre in Bhubaneswar.

“While the Acharya Harihar Regional Cancer Centre (AHRCC) in Cuttack will be upgraded to a comprehensive cancer care hospital to handle complex cases on a referral basis, the district hospitals will be equipped with Oncology speciality to offer facilities like radiotherapy and chemotherapy,” informed the chief secretary.

The existing Acharya Harihar Cancer Care Hospital at Cuttack will be upgraded to Level-1.

It has been proposed to set up Level-2 units in government medical colleges at Sambalpur (Burla), Kalahandi, Ganjam (Berhampur), Koraput and Capital Hospital at Bhubaneswar.

Level-3 units will be set up at government hospitals in Jharsuguda, Keonjhar, Baripada, Balasore, Bolangir, Bargarh, Nabarangpur and Angul. There will be wide awareness and screening programmes at the community level for prevention of cancer.