6 years on, cancer centre for poor still in its infancy

Dinesh Manhotra

Tribune News Service

Jammu, December 3

Approved by the Union Government nearly six years back, the tertiary cancer centre is still in infancy. Thanks to the insensitive approach of the successive regimes at the helm of the affairs.In February 2013, the then UPA government had approved the setting up of the cancer centre at a cost of Rs 45 crore to provide treatment to poor patients who could not afford to go outside.

The callous approach of the ruling elites can be gauged from the fact that foundation stone of the project, approved in the month of February 2013, was laid on September 12, 2019.

“For six long years, the authorities have brazenly delayed the project despite the fact that the number of cancer patients is increasing with each passing day,” a source said, adding, “It was only two months back thast the authorities woke up from deep slumber.”

The inordinate delay in setting up the institute has not only escalated the cost of the project manifold but a number of poor patients, who could not afford treatment in private hospitals, have lost their lives due to the inhuman approach of the ruling elites.

As per the official data, Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) has recorded 2,104 cancer patients in 2014, 2,045 in 2015, 2,174 in 2016, 1,930 in 2017 and 2,373 in 2018.

“The construction of the building started after the then Governor Satya Pal Malik laid the foundation stone in September this year,” Dr Arun Sharma, superintendent Super Specialty Hospital, Jammu, told The Tribune, adding, “I am unaware of the reasons for the inordinate delay. Only the higher-ups have the authority to givea reply to this query.”

Notably, on December 20, 2013, while inspecting the site of the proposed cancer centre at the Super Specialty Hospital in Jammu, the then Health Minister Taj Mohi-ud-Din had announced that the construction would be started within a month’s time. The minister announced that centre would have the facilities of PET scan and linear accelerator, which are used in cancer screening. At present, there is no such facility available in the UT and the patients have to go outside for the same.

When the foundation stone was laid in September this year, the government announced that the 100-bed cancer institute, coming up at an estimated cost of Rs 120 cr, will provide a host of services and facilities, including PET scan, linear accelerators, brach therapy, CT-Simulator, chemotherapy, bone marrow transplant, modular operation theatres, ICU, palliative care, cancer psychiatry and MR scan, etc.

Project timeline 

•  February 2013: The Union Government had sanctioned the cancer centre in Jammu, at an estimated cost of Rs 45 cr.
• December 20, 2013: The then Health Minister announced that construction will be started in a month.
• September 12, 2019: The stone of the centre was laid and the cost of the project escalated to Rs 120 cr.