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With Tata Trusts coming forward to partner with the Assam government to set up three-level cancer treatment grid in the next couple of years, over 80,000 cancer patients would directly benefit every year, state health and finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Saturday.
“Tata Trusts have approved a support of Rs 540 crore for the joint initiative with the Assam government also committing to match an equal contribution. To be driven under the aegis of South East Asian Cancer Society that is being set up in Guwahati, this collaborative programme between the government of Assam and Tata Trusts on cancer care is historic,” minister Sarma said.
“Assam has high incidence of cancer, with the number of new patients diagnosed every year touching the 30,000 mark,” Sarma said. With facilities for cancer diagnosis and treatment still very limited, thousands of patients travel to Mumbai, Chennai, Vellore, Delhi and other places every year.
Expressing gratefulness to TataTrusts for the gesture, health minister Sarma said, “I am grateful to Ratan Tata and members of the Tata Trusts for reposing their faith on us. We reiterate our commitment to do the best,” he said.
Meanwhile, R Venkataramanan, managing trustee of Tata Trusts, in a letter to Sarma said a detailed operational plan to carry forward the initiatives was under preparation with the twin aims of preventing cancer and bettering outcomes for the existing patients. “We are confident that the new model of distributed care in Assam will serve as an example for other states and developing nations elsewhere,” Venkataramanan, in his letter, released to the media by minister Sarma, said.
Sarma had, after his meeting with Ratan Tata and other members of Tata Trusts in Mumbai on October 13, said that once in place, the state-level cancer care institute in Guwahati would have advanced tertiary care facilities, the medical colleges facilities for chemotherapy, radiation and surgical oncology, and the district hospitals day-care, chemotherapy and radiation facilities.