Nitish Kumar lays the foundation for cancer institute at IGIMS

Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister, Bihar has laid the foundation stone for a Rs. 138 crore State Cancer Institute at Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS). Initially, there will be 150 beds in the cancer institute, later to be increased to 180. The institute will enroll physicists, oncologists, radiation oncologists, senior physicists, nuclear medicine specialists, and other doctors. Equipment for treatment will include linear accelerators for high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy as well as low-dose-rate (LDR) brachytherapy.

The institute will have a wide range of treatment modalities supported by equipment such as a CT simulator to determine the exact location, shape, and size of the tumor to be treated; a PET-CT for diagnostics; a cyclotron for proton therapy; and an MRI machine, which helps doctors to plan cancer treatments, such as surgery or radiation therapy.

A new 1200-bed hospital block is planned to come up on the IGIMS premises soon. The state government will consider demolishing old structures of the hospital and constructing new ones in their place for the development of IGIMS. Funds to the tune of Rs. 800 crore would be utilized for construction of the new block at IGIMS.

The proposed site of the regional institute of ophthalmology at IGIMS will utilize Rs. 178.02 crore to set up a multi-storey building that will be equipped with modern and hi-tech eye care equipment on the pattern of Dr R P Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences at AIIMS, New Delhi.