Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda on Tuesday announced that the largest Cancer Institute in India, ‘The National Cancer Institute’ is likely to be functional by the third week of January.
“The National Cancer Institute in Jhajjar would be dedicated by the third week of January,” Nadda said at an event in AIIMS hospital in Delhi.
Since there exists a lack of effective treatment of cancer in the northern region of India, this institute will help to eradicate the issue.
Operative under AIIMS, New Delhi, the institute, consists of 710 beds, out of which 200 beds would be dedicated for research on cancer. The outpatient department (OPD) service has been partially started last week.
It is said that there will be 372 units of flats and 1080 hostel rooms for staff members. A night shelter with a capacity of 800 units meant for patient attendants have also been planned.
Different facilities such as surgical oncology, radiation oncology, medical oncology, anesthesia, and palliative care and nuclear medicine will be available at the institute. It will also have the first-of-its-kind tissue repository in India.
This institution had been previously approved in 2013, by the then central government under Dr. Manmohan Singh. It had been built with a cost of ₹2035 crores.
It has been noticed that about 11 lakh of cancer victims are discovered every year. At present, there are about 8 million cancer victims worldwide, out of which 29 lakhs are only in India.
The institute, constructed in Bhadsa village, will follow the paths of National Cancer Institute in the US and German Cancer Research Centre ( Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum) DKFZ with a view to develop human resource and research.
The focus of the institute will be on understanding the cause and genesis of the types of cancers, it is aimed to plan, conduct research on cancers, which are common in India mainly tobacco-related cancers, cancers of the uterine cervix, gallbladder cancer and liver cancers, the government has said.