Tata Trust To Upgrade Cancer Care Infrastructure In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: To implement a distributed model in Odisha to make cancer-care accessible, reduce the travel time and waiting period for the patients, the Tata Trust had a meeting with the state government on Monday.

The meeting was presided over by chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi at the State Secretariat here.

Briefing mediapersons after the meeting, Padhi said the Tata Trust has recommended a three-tier step-down model focusing on prevention and early detection of cancer and making cancer care accessible by reducing the travel time to a maximum 2.5-3 hours, which would result in improved survival rates.

As planned by the Tata Trust, 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 treatment of cancer of 95 percent of 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.

In the third level, daycare and diagnostic facilities would be set up at the district headquarters hospitals (DHH) in Jharsuguda, Keonjhar, Baripada, Nabarangpur, Balangir, Bargarh and Angul.

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 evenly shared by the Tata Trust and the state government, official sources said.

It was decided that the state government would set up Odisha Cancer Care Foundation to oversee the proposed infrastructure of the Tata Trust, the sources added.