Every year, around 1 lakh people in Maharashtra get diagnosed with cancer and the number is increasing as per data available with the Indian Council of Medical Research. To address the growing cases of cancer and to provide better health facilities, the health ministry will establish two cancer centres in Cama Hospital and GT Hospital. Also, a state-of-the-art cancer centre will be constructed at Nagpur.
“Many people across the state arrive at Nagpur for cancer treatment so to provide better treatment to cancer patients, we will establish a big hospital with bed capacity of 300-400. Also, we have plans to start cancer centres at Cama and GT Hospitals,” said the state health minister, Dr Deepak Sawant.
In Maharashtra, breast and cervical cancers are the most common cancer forms among women. So, to make women more aware and provide better health facilities for cervical cancer patients, ‘Mahila Arogya Abhiyan’ will be started at three places in Maharashtra—Beed, Usmanabad and Latur.
“Data procured from these three places shows that the cases of cervical cancer are very high. Also, many women suffer from anaemia due to lack of haemoglobin. So, we have selected these three places,” Dr Sawant added.
The facility will be provided with support of Tata Memorial Hospital and Wadia Hospital.
Rajendra Badwe, director, TMH, said Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi and Kolkata have the highest number of cervical cancer cases. “Avoiding tobacco, obesity and maintaining personal hygiene can save people from several forms of cancer,” the minister said.
