Government to Set Up 49 Cancer Centres in the Next 3 Years

With cancer cases on the rise in the country, the government plans to set up 49 cancer centres in the next three years. The centres will be in addition to 31 already functioning and upgraded since 2014-15, when the government floated the scheme.

The Health Ministry has prepared a detailed project plan that will be reviewed by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) at a high-level meeting. According to the paper, these centers will come up across India in a phased manner under two categories - state cancer institutes and tertiary care cancer centres (TCCCs).

‘Non-communicable diseases, especially cancer, are increasing at an alarming rate. However, there is a serious dearth of facilities, mainly at the district level.’

The ministry has estimated a cost of around Rs 3,495 crore to implement the scheme over the next three years. The cancer centres will be set up in a phased manner under the existing National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke.

In India, over 10 lakh new cases of cancer are diagnosed every year. However, due to late diagnosis, over 7 lakh people die from the disease each year. Projections by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) show that India is likely to have over 17.3 lakh new cases of cancer and over 8.8 lakh deaths due to the disease by 2020.

India has 50 percent of the required 1,200 radiotherapy machines, which are used to destroy cancer cells, as per estimates by the WHO. Thus, within this scheme, the government is planning to add around 175 radiotherapy machines in India by the end of 2020.

The umbrella project also entails the setting up of other facilities for oncology, onco-surgery, chemotherapy and palliative care for diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of cancer.

Source: Medindia