NEW DELHI, Feb 23: The government has started a survey to identify gaps and review the infrastructure in all district hospitals in order to implement the budget announcement of setting up daycare cancer centres in these health facilities over the next three years.
The estimated expenditure for setting up these centres will be Rs 3,200 crore, Union health ministry officials have told PTI.
In her budget speech, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government will facilitate setting up daycare cancer centres in all district hospitals over the next three years and 200 of these will be established in 2025-26.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday laid the foundation stone for the Shree Bagheshwar Medical Sciences and Research Institute, which will include a cancer hospital, at Chhatarpur in Madhya Pradesh. After the foundation stone-laying ceremony, Modi said daycare cancer centres will be opened in all districts of the country in the next three years.
He pointed to the budgetary announcements aimed at fighting cancer and the decision to make cancer medicines cheaper.
“This (daycare cancer centres) will lead to an increase in access to quality cancer care for more people, especially in rural areas. Also, this will reduce the burden on the tertiary-care centres, allowing them to focus on more complex cases, by offering such services at the district level,” an official said.
The official said these centres will have four to six beds and focus on providing chemotherapy services and conducting cancer prevention and awareness programmes.
“We have started conducting a gap analysis and reviewing the infrastructure of all district hospitals for setting up these cancer centres. As part of the exercise, we will also assess the cancer load in these district hospitals,” the official added.
As part of the government’s ongoing efforts for cancer care, over the last few years, more than Rs 3,000 crore have been approved for the period from 2014-15 to 2025-26 for 19 state cancer institutes (SCIs) and 20 tertiary cancer care centres (TCCCs).
Also, cancer treatment facilities have been approved in all the 22 new All India Institutes of Medical Sciences.
Since the inception of the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), approximately 68.43 lakh hospital admissions amounting to Rs 13,160.75 crore have been authorised for cancer-related packages under the scheme, health minister J P Nadda said recently.
At 217 AMRIT pharmacies, 289 oncology drugs are given at a significant discount of up to 50 per cent of market rates. Also, under the Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana, affordable anti-cancer and oncology medicines are given.
The government has introduced screening for individuals aged 30 years and above under the National Health Mission (NHM) at ayushman arogya mandirs and more than 26 crore people have been screened for oral cancer, 14 crore for breast cancer and nine crore for cervical cancer at these facilities.
The government has also fully exempted 36 lifesaving drugs for treating cancer, rare and chronic diseases from basic customs duty. (PTI)
