Odisha, Tata Trust plan Rs 1,000 crore cancer care facilities

New Delhi: Odisha government and Tata Trust will jointly spend Rs 1,000 crore for development of cancer care facilities in the state in next five years, a senior official said.

The decision in this regard was taken at a meeting chaired by chief secretary A P Padhi and attended by representatives of the Tata Trust.

The meeting focused on the implementation of a distributed model in Odisha to make cancer-care accessible, reduce the travel time and waiting period for the patients.

As per the Tata Trust's plan, the network will comprise three levels. In the first level, the Tata Trust would set up a Greenfield Hospital in Bhubaneswar and develop the infrastructure at Acharya Harihar Regional Cancer Centre (AHRCC) in Cuttack.

In the second level, comprehensive diagnostic facilities for the treatment of cancer patients would be set up at Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (VIMSAR) at Burla, MKCG Medical College and Hospital in Berhampur, government medical colleges in Kalahandi and Koraput and Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar.

Besides, the Tata Trust has also recommended daycare and diagnostics in the remaining DHHs outside of its proposed network.

The estimated cost towards the infrastructure development in five years would be around Rs 1000 crore, which would be equally shared by the Tata Trust and the state government, Padhi said.

Padhi said the state government will set up Odisha Cancer Care Foundation for better treatment of cancer patients.