Amit Shah lays foundation stone of 19 cancer care centres in Guwahati

Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu, state health minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma were present in the function.

Amit Shah said that it is one of the biggest ever initiative taken by the Assam government to improve the health sector after independence.

Amit Shah acknowledged the crucial role played by Tata Trusts with their philanthropic activities in bolstering public health sector in different parts of the country for so many years.

He also referred to schemes of central government like Ayushman Bharat which covers approximately 10 crore poor and vulnerable families (approximately 50 crore beneficiaries) providing coverage up-to 5 lakh rupees per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization and Mission Indradhanush which aims to immunize all children under the age of 2 years, as well as all pregnant women, against seven vaccine preventable diseases.

Shah said that this cancer care programme will enable the underprivileged section of the society get access to quality cancer treatment while minimising out of pocket expenses.

He also appreciated the Assam government under chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal for taking up such mega projects within a short period of time to fulfil the aspirations of the people of the state.

  The BJP president said that, Congress had ruled maximum times in the country after independence, but the NE region deprived from development.

“But the present Union government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has specially focused on the development of the region,” Amit Shah said.

On the other hand, Tata Trusts Chairman Ratan Tata said that, cancer is silent killer.

“Since the north-eastern part of the country has highest occurrence of cancer cases, the Tata Trusts is commited to make cancer care inclusive. Since its inception, Tata Trusts has played a pioneering role in transforming traditional ideas of charity and introducing the concept of philanthropy to make a real difference to communities. Researchers under the Trusts are working for finding cutting edge solutions to manage cancer efficiently so that mortality due to cancer can be reduced through awareness, prevention and early detection while taking care closer to the people,” Ratan Tata said.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said that, cancer treatment takes a heavy toll on the mental, physical and financial conditions of not only the patient but also the whole family. But the setting up of this 19 hospital cancer care grid in the state will revolutionise the whole cancer management and patients would be able to avail quality treatment without going outside the state.

Sonowal said that, said that ever since coming to power the present state government has initiated many schemes like Atal Amrit Abhiyan, free diagnostic facilities which have improved the public health scenario in the state.

“Following Advantage Assam: Global Investors’ Summit, the state has come into the investment limelight of the nation and a total of Rs 79,000 crore of investment has been committed to the state as a result of the summit,” Sonowal said.

The Assam CM also thanked the Chairman of Tata Trusts Ratan Tata for fulfilling the commitment of extending cooperation in setting up 19 hospitals as part of the three tier cancer care programme in the state.

Assam health minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma said that a corpus of Rs 1,910 crore has been created under Assam Cancer Care Foundation to set up three different layers of hospitals for cancer patients in 19 districts of the State. As part of the agreement, Tata Trusts will contribute nearly Rs 900 crore, while the state government will provide a grant of Rs 1,080 crore, he informed. Central government has committed another Rs 180 crores in addition to the corpus fund.

Elaborating on the plan Dr Sarma said that the Assam Medical College and Hospital at Dibrugarh would be treated as a level 1 hospital, which would largely be a referral hospital with 200 additional beds. The level 3 hospitals would be set up at Darrang, Goalpara, Golaghat, Haflong and Sivasagar. Further, the 150-bed level 2 hospitals would come up in Silchar, Barpeta, Jorhat, Tezpur, Diphu, Dhubri, Kokrajhar, Lakhimpur, Nagaon, Tinsukia, Karimganj and Nalbari. The places identified for level 2 are those where multi-specialty support from the medical colleges is available or at least proposals for setting up medical colleges are already in place.

The Assam government and Tata Trusts collaborated for a joint venture under which a three-tier cancer care grid will be established in Assam with a corpus of Rs 2,200 crore to be shared on an equal basis by both parties.

The first installment of Rs 500 crore, Rs 250 crore each by Assam government and Tata Trusts was handed over to Assam Cancer Care Foundation (ACCF).

A South-East Asia Cancer Research Institute will be set up at Cancer Hospital, Guwahati Medical College Hospital, Guwahati under Assam Cancer Care Foundation (ACCF) and also a Level One facility centre will be set up at Assam Medical College Hospital, Dibrugarh.

ACCF will also set up 12 Level Two centres in the government medical colleges in Barpeta, Dhubri, Jorhat, Karimganj, Kokrajhar, Lakhimpur, Nagaon, Nalbari, Silchar, Tezpur and Tinsukia and five Level Three centres will be set up in district hospitals at Daring, Goalpara, Golaghat, Haflong and Sivasagar.

(By Hemanta Kumar Nath, Guwahati)