Odisha Govt to offer chemotherapy at district HQ hospitals

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Feb 4:

Odisha Government plans to offer cancer care services including chemotherapy at district headquarter hospitals soon, said Health and Family Welfare Minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak today.

“Initially, the government is planning to introduce cancer treatment facilities including chemotherapy in ten district headquarter hospitals and it will be extended to other districts subsequently. The doctors are being trained in Delhi and Mumbai and would soon be posted in the districts,” said Nayak addressing a ‘cancer survivors’ program’ held at SOA University in Bhubaneswar today.

“The government is taking necessary steps to improve the infrastructure for cancer care in the state by extending treatment facilities in the districts. A ‘Linear Accelerator’, a modern device used to treat cancer, has been installed at the Acharya Harihar Regional Cancer Centre (AHRCC) in Cuttack and steps are being taken to provide cancer screening and follow-up treatment in the districts,” he added addressing the gathering organised to mark the ‘World Cancer Day’.

Further, the minister also informed that the patients under treatment at the AHRCC are being provided all cancer related drugs free of cost through ‘Niramaya’, a program launched through the Odisha State Medical Corporation Ltd (OSMCL).

Notably, over 14 million people worldwide suffer from some or other form of cancer and around 1.2 million new patients get added to that list every year. There are about three million cancer patients in India alone.