GUWAHATI: The new cancer hospital attached to the
Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) to have come up is a relief for many cancer patients, who otherwise have to wait in a long queue to avail radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment at the B
Booroah Cancer Institute (
BBCI) because of the huge load of patients there. These patients now visit the cancer hospital at GMCH to avail similar services.
The 200-bed cancer hospital was opened last year. Equipped with the latest diagnostic and radiology facilities for cancer care, it is already receiving a good number of patients every day. At present, the hospital has three departments -
medical oncology,
surgical oncology and radiotherapy.
The BBCI at present receives about 90,000 old cancer patients and about 12,000 new patients every year from across the northeastern states. The load of patients is very high and there have been instances when cancer patients had to get admitted to other private hospitals to avail treatment.
"We receive cancer patients from across the state and other northeastern states. While some of them come here directly, some come here from the BBCI to avail radiotherapy and chemotherapy if they cannot avail the facilities there because of the huge rush of patients. Our hospital is relatively new and our medical team is trying its best to provide good quality cancer care to our patients," said K Bhuyan, superintendent of the cancer hospital.
According to available data, the cancer hospital receives an average of 30 cancer patients for chemotherapy per day and an average of 120 patients in the radiotherapy department per day. The hospital receives about 25-30 new cases of cancer in its out-patient department per day and about 120 old cases per day.
"Our hospital will be developed into a Level-1 hospital and it will be the nodal cancer institute for another 18 district-level cancer hospitals that are to come up in different districts of the state in future," said Bhuyan.
"The cancer hospital that has come up in the GMCH campus has definitely made cancer care accessible to patients, particularly those from the marginalized sections," said AK
Adhikari, principal of GMCH.
