Telangana State, Tata Trust join hands for providing cancer care facilities

Hyderabad: The State government on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Tata Memorial Trust as part of comprehensive cancer care management programme, providing with a network of cancer care facilities in the State. This programme aims at rationalisation of the cancer care at all levels of healthcare, with the primary objective of early detection of cancer. 

The agreement was signed at a programme held at a private hotel Shamshabad in the presence of IT & MAUD Minister K T Rama Rao, Health Minister C Laxma Reddy and Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata. Principal Secretary of Health A Santhi Kumari on behalf of the State government and representatives of Tata Memorial Trust inked the MoU. 

As part of this initiative, two notable super-specialty hospitals in the city, MNJ Institute of Technology and Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS), will be upgraded to handle complex cases on a referral basis. In addition to this, hospitals at district headquarters will be developed to diagnose and offer standardised day care chemotherapy.

Speaking on the occasion, K T Rama Rao said the State which is has the 4th highest incidence of cancer has embarked on the ambitious mission to screen and diagnose the medical condition at the early stage. “With this initiative, we can be able to control various the types of cancers such as oral, breast and cervical at the early stage, and the early diagnosis will help the patients in undergoing treatment,” he said.   

Principal Secretary said the State government was organising several awareness programmes for prevention of cancer. Stating that medical examinations were being conducted on patients, she said cancer treatment was made available to patients in all government hospitals, including Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences. She also said medical tests were being conducted on the patients in 13 districts in the State under Cancer Screening programme. 

Ratan Tata said the Tata Trust was privileged to partner with the Telangana government in upgrading cancer care capabilities in the public health network. Patients would no longer need to travel all the way to Hyderabad, except for rare and complex conditions, he affirmed. According to Tata Trust, at present, a majority of the cancer cases in Telangana are diagnosed at a very late stage, thus limiting the treatment options. 

The comprehensive cancer care management programme is aimed at addressing this issue, so that cancer care can be rationalised across all the levels of healthcare, including primary, secondary and tertiary State-run health institutions. Similar initiatives are in different stages of implementation in Assam, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.