[Assam] Cachar Cancer Hospital best in the North East and Cheapest in the country

[Pradip Kumar Datta]

        Cachar Cancer Hospital best in the North East and Cheapest in the country
   
  Blueprint to upgrade cancer hub
    OUR CORRESPONDENT TELEGRAPH INDIA    Cachar                          (From top) The facade of the hospital, a cobalt machine donated by Oil India Ltd and patients at the hospital   Feb. 4: It is to the region what Tata Memorial Hospital is to the west coast. 
  The Cachar Cancer Hospital and Research Centre near Silchar, which caters to thousands of patients from neighbouring Mizoram, Tripura and Manipur apart from whole of south Assam, is poised for an upgrade. 
  Run by the Cachar Cancer Hospital Society at Ghoonghur on the outskirts of Silchar, the centre provides treatment at a low cost compared to other cancer care centres in the country. It was set up in 1996. 
  The average annual cost here is just Rs 20,000 compared to the city-based cancer care centres, which charge around Rs 2 lakh.
  Cancer specialist Ravi Kannan, who took over as the director of this hospital recently, appeared to be optimistic about the capability of the centre. He said it could emerge as one of the major centres for the treatment of cancer in a few years.
  He said a blueprint has been prepared to transform this hospital, spread over 24,000 square feet, into a Rs 50-crore modern cancer care unit. 
  Unveiling the slew of the schemes aiming to upgrade the hospital, Kannan said it would have a new radio-therapy machine, a blood bank, a computer centre for a data bank of patients and extensive training programmes for the nurses. 
  The hospital has added another feather to its crest by becoming the lone centre in the Northeast to procure a high-tech Cobalt tele-therapy unit worth Rs 2 crore. Kannan said Oil India limited had provided the hospital with Rs 2 crore for the tele-therapy utility.
  The Union ministry of atomic energy and the Tea Board under the Union ministry of commerce chipped in with Rs 25 lakh and Rs 8 lakh respectively to construct a building to house the cobalt machine.
  A group of social workers in south Assam formed the Society in 1994 and garnered enough funds to build the hospital. The response was amazing as the flow of funds from both the public and the government agencies never ceased. According to an official report, as many as 2,368 patients from the south Assam region were treated in Silchar Medical College Hospital alone between 1995 and 2001 for cancer. 

       
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