Headlines of The Day
PM Modi virtually inaugurates 2nd campus of CNCI in Kolkata
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the second campus of Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute (CNCI) in Kolkata on January 7 via videoconferencing.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also attended the virtual inauguration ceremony.
Speaking on the occasion, the prime minister said. “Today we have taken another step while strengthening the national resolve to provide quality health facilities to every citizen of the country. This second campus of Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute has brought great convenience to many citizens of West Bengal.”
Dedicating to the nation the 400-bed tertiary cancer care centre to the nation , he told the gathering about the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination drive and said that the country has reached the “historic milestone” of administering 150 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccine during the day.
“India has reached a historic milestone of administering 150 crore vaccines today. Out of the entire eligible population, over 90 percent of India’s population has at least got one dose. In just 5 days, over 1.5 crore kids aged between 15 and 18 have been given a dose,” he said.
Talking about the work done by the Centre in the healthcare sector, get said, “The government has controlled the prices of over 500 medicines, and it is helping save over Rs 3,000 crore of the poor and needy.”
“The government has also reduced the cost of knee implants, and that has especially benefited our senior citizens. This has helped in an annual reduction of Rs 1,500 crore, helping the citizens. The PM National Dialysis Programme has helped 12 lakh poor with free dialysis,” he added.
The second campus of CNCI has been built in line with PM Modi’s vision to expand and upgrade health facilities in all parts of the country, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has said in a statement. CNCI was facing a heavy load of cancer patients. A need for expansion was being felt for some time, and the second campus will fulfil it, it has said.
The second campus of CNCI has been built at a cost of over Rs 530 crore. Around Rs 400 crore was provided by the Union government and the rest by the West Bengal government in the ratio of 75:25, the PMO has said.
The campus is a 460-bed comprehensive cancer centre unit with cutting-edge infrastructure for cancer diagnosis, staging, treatment and care. It is equipped with modern facilities like Nuclear Medicine (PET), 3.0 Tesla MRI, 128 slice CT scanner, Radionuclide therapy unit, endoscopy suite, modern brachytherapy units etc.
The campus will also work as an advanced cancer research facility and provide comprehensive care to cancer patients, especially those from eastern and northeastern parts of the country, it has added. Moneycontrol