19 cancer centers in Assam to start functioning from mid 2020

The Government of Assam has announced the setting up of 19 cancer care centers across the state in partnership with Tata Trusts at an investment of Rs. 1910 crore, and will start functioning from mid-2020.

The Assam government and Tata Trusts have formed a non-profitable entity – Assam Cancer Care Foundation (ACCF) – with equal partnership to implement the project and manage the centers. Tata Trusts will give Rs. 830 crore initially, while the state government will put in Rs. 1080 crore.

So, the initial corpus of Rs. 1910 crore will go to ACCF, which will be a six-member trust. The association is to set up 19 cancer hospitals or centers of different categorization at as many places.

The Assam government had signed a memorandum of understanding with Tata Trusts during the Advantage Assam – Global Investment Summit 2018 in February this year to operate 17 cancer care centers across 15 districts. The number of centers has been revised and it will be 19 now.

As per the plan, the district hospitals at Darrang, Goalpara, Golaghat, Haflong, and Sivasagar will have diagnosis and day-care centers without having surgery facilities, termed as L3. Existing and proposed medical colleges at Barpeta, Jorhat, Silchar, Tezpur, Diphu, Dhubri, Kokrajhar, Lakhimpur, Nagaon, Tinsukia, Karimganj, and Nalbari will have facilities for radiation, chemotherapy, and surgery with 150-bed hospitals, termed as L2. Assam Medical College and Hospital will be the referral center and will have a separate 200–250 bed hospital, termed as L1.

Apart from these centers, the Assam government is constructing a 500-bedded cancer hospital under the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital. For developing the Guwahati hospital as an apex center for cancer treatment, they will invest Rs. 200 crore, of which Rs. 180 crore will be given by the center. This hospital will be known as South East Asian Cancer Research Center and it will carry out research on the disease in the North East as well as neighboring countries.