Mumbai: Chemo facility to be available at district hospitals

Mumbai: In a first of it kind initiative, the chemotherapy treatment will be made available at district government hospitals. The first phase of this scheme will be launched in June and this facility will be made available at 10 district hospitals. The doctors said this decision will help thousands of poor people, who are living in remote areas and can not afford private medical treatment.

A senior doctor said a special training will be given to the physicians and nurses of these hospitals at Tata Memorial Hospital. “In the first phase, ten districts of the state have been included in this scheme. A physician and a nurse in each of these ten hospitals will be trained for three weeks by Medical Oncology department of the Tata Hospital. The first batch of trainees will start from May and district hospitals have been directed to inform the names of the physicians and nurses,”

India has a huge cancer burden upon itself. Thousands of lives are lost every year, as the front-line treatment of cancer – chemotherapy, is not widely available, especially in rural areas. Poor and needy patients are forced to go private hospitals, where they can not afford the rising cost of treatment.

The State Health Minister said this decision will help save precious lives as people will have easier access to chemotherapy at government hospitals across the state.  From June 2018, all the units will start administering chemotherapy. In the second phase, the treatment will be made available in the remaining districts as well.

“Now the government is making chemotherapy treatment available at the district level in government hospitals due to which patients do not have to travel all the way to Mumbai for treatment now,” said Dr Deepak Sawant, State Health Minister.