Visakhapatnam to get top cancer care centre, says CM

AP Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has called for a detailed report for setting up a cancer care centre in government medical colleges in Visakhapatnam, Guntur, and Tirupati during a review meeting on the health sector on Monday.

With an aim to treat the thousands of people who suffer from the disease every year, the CM said that these cancer care centres would help in curbing the menace of cancer. In detail, a centre of excellence in nuclear medicine for cancer care will be set up in Visakhapatnam. A cancer care hospice centre with a 1,000-bed capacity has been proposed to be set up in Tirupati which will be the largest in the country. To be named the Balaji Institute of Oncology, it will also act as an international cancer care centre and develop Tirupati into a medical tourism hub.

Focusing on the fact that 34,000 people died of cancer in Andhra Pradesh in 2020, the CM said that late detection of cancer was the main reason behind the death of a large number of patients in AP. Therefore, the government wishes to focus on public health hazards from the grassroots level. Jagan advised the officials to focus on fighting the deathly disease at the village level and advised to construct wards, clinics and primary health centres at the earliest.

The Andhra Pradesh Comprehensive Cancer Care (APCCC) which will be the nodal agency working on these projects has proposed to rope in senior doctors for prevention and treatment initiatives. The agency also proposed creating awareness about cancer as it is the key element in eradicating the disease.

The CM also mentioned benefits being given under the Arogyasri scheme and pledged to enhance its scope to benefit more people. The review meeting was attended by top medical officials along with Minister for Health V. Rajani and Chief Secretary Sameer Sharma.

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