NGT panel favours IGMC’s cancer centre in banned area

Kuldeep Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, November 13

The supervisory committee, constituted by the NGT, favoured construction of the Rs 45-crore Tertiary Cancer Treatment Centre of Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) here today. The hospital’s building will come up in the core area of the city where the NGT had banned new constructions in November 2017.

It took almost a year for the committee, chaired by the Additional Chief Secretary, Urban Development, Prabodh Saxena, to take up the issue of the cancer hospital which was highlighted in these columns twice.

The committee had sought relaxation as it was a matter of health for cancer patients, revealed sources. The IGMC cancer hospital authority has submitted a proposal to the government which was discussed by members of the committee, the sources said.

The government will move an application, seeking permission from the NGT, for construction of the building. “The minutes of the meeting are yet to come out, but the authority will take a call on the project by moving an application to the NGT”, a senior member of the committee, said.

The fate of the centre has been hanging in balance for the last one year after the NGT imposed a ban on the new constructions in the core and green areas of the city. The centre has received the first instalment of Rs 15 crore from the Centre, but there has been no progress on the construction. The threat of the fund getting lapsed if not utilised by March 31, 2019, looms large, said Dr Manish Gupta, head of the Regional Cancer Centre.

The grant for the centre generates hope for the patients, who have been suffering due to the absence of the high-energy accelerator machine, costing Rs 25 crore. The patients have to go either the PGI, Chandigarh, or end up spending Rs 2 lakh at private cancer treatment centres outside the state, doctors said. As many as 500 cancer patients need the therapy every year in Shimla.

The members of the committee included its chairperson Prabodh Saxena, its member-secretary Rajeshwar Goel, who is Director, Town and Country Planning.

Hope for patients

• The centre has received the first instalment of Rs 15 crore from the Centre
• But there has been no progress on the construction
• The threat of the fund getting lapsed, if not used by March 31, 2019, looms 
• The grant  generates hope for patients, who have been suffering due to the absence of the Rs 25- crore accelerator machine
• As many as 500 cancer patients need the therapy every year in Shimla