Maharashtra Unveils ‘Cancer Care Policy’
Under a three-tier structure, 18 hospitals will provide advanced facilities including radiotherapy, chemotherapy, diagnostics, surgeries, palliative care and research. Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai will serve as the apex Level-1 centre, with eight government medical colleges designated as Level-2 and nine hospitals as Level-3 centres.
Mumbai: In Maharashtra, specialised cancer treatment will soon be available at the district level too. The state government on Tuesday passed a comprehensive cancer care policy to provide quality treatment to patients through a three-tier integrated system. Under the policy, specialised cancer treatment will be made available in 18 hospitals across the state.
“To support this initiative, the state government will establish a new entity the Maharashtra Cancer Care, Research and Education Foundation (MAHACARE Foundation) with an initial corpus of 100 crore rupees for capital investment, alongside funding through Mahatma Phule Jan Arogya Yojana, CSR, donations and clinical trials,” said state health minister Prakash Abitkar.
Under a three-tier structure, 18 hospitals will provide advanced facilities including radiotherapy, chemotherapy, diagnostics, surgeries, palliative care and research. Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai will serve as the apex Level-1 centre, with eight government medical colleges designated as Level-2 and nine hospitals as Level-3 centres.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that the cancer care policy will ensure early diagnosis and treatment in all districts of the state.
For Level-2 centres, a total of eight centres including hospitals affiliated to six government medical colleges at Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Chandrapur, Nagpur, Sir J. G. Medical College and Hospital Mumbai (JJ), Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj Government Medical College and Chhatrapati Pramilaraje Hospital at Kolhapur and B. J. Government Medical College at Pune along with two referral service hospitals of the Public Health Department at Nashik and Amravati have been identified.
A total of nine hospitals including eight hospitals affiliated to government medical colleges at Ambajogai (Beed), Nanded, Yavatmal, Mumbai (Cama and Albless Hospital), Satara, Baramati, Jalgaon and Ratnagiri and the Shirdi Sansthan Hospital, have been identified as L-3 level centres.
Under the policy, L-2 level hospitals will be affiliated to government medical colleges and fellowships will be provided for postgraduate and super specialty education in cancer.
According to state officials, cancer cases in Maharashtra are on rise and the problem is likely to worsen in the coming years. The report of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Center for Disease Data (NCDIR) in 2025 shows an 11 percent increase in the number of cancer patients in the state compared to 2020.