New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre at Mullanpur in New Chandigarh on Wednesday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the hospital has been built by the central government at a cost of over Rs 660 crore. The cancer hospital is a tertiary care hospital with a 300-bed capacity and is equipped with modern facilities to treat all types of cancers using every available treatment modality like surgery, radiotherapy and medical oncology – chemotherapy, immunotherapy and bone marrow transplant.

This project is significant since there have been numerous reports of increased cancer prevalence in parts of Punjab and people being forced to go to other states for affordable cancer treatment. This issue was so rampant that a train from Bathinda was known as a Cancer train.

The government believes the hospital in New Chandigarh will act as a hub of cancer care. A 100-bed cancer hospital run by the central government is functional since 2018 in Sangrur which will now act as a spoke of this hospital. This hospital will also help patients from neighbouring states.

The Union Health Ministry said the treatment of cancer under the Ayushman Bharat has been one of the prime focus areas to safeguard the beneficiaries from the catastrophic expenditure of cancer treatment. Health insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year is provided for secondary or tertiary care hospitalisation. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy packages, along with surgical oncology are covered as part of cancer treatment in the empanelled hospitals under the scheme. A total of 435 procedures have been defined for the treatment of cancer.

Significant focus on oncology in its various aspects has been ensured in the new AIIMS that are being established under the aegis of Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY). Cancer care facilities are also being established in other Medical Colleges under PMSSY.

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers, put out a list of 390 anti-cancer non-scheduled medicines with MRP reduction up to 87 per cent in 2019.

The functional Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centres (AB-HWCs) have done more than 10.33 crore screenings for oral cancer, more than 3.41 crore screenings for cervical cancer in women and more than 5.06 crore screenings for breast cancer in women (As on April, 2022), said the Union Health Ministry.

Pertinent to mention here, On April 28, 2022, PM Modi had dedicated to the nation seven cancer hospitals in Assam at a function in Dibrugarh. These cancer Hospitals are built at Dibrugarh, Kokrajhar, Barpeta, Darrang, Tezpur, Lakhimpur, and Jorhat. During the function, Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone of seven new cancer hospitals at Dhubri, Nalbari, Goalpara, Nagaon, Sivasagar, Tinsukia and Golaghat.

On January 7, 2022, the second campus of Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute, Kolkata was inaugurated by PM Modi. It is a 460 bedded hospital.