Tirupati to be healthcare hub

Tirupati: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has expressed his vision of transforming Tirupati into a centre of specialised medical care which offers comprehensive medical services for all specialties soon. It will also be developed as the most liveable and the safest city in the country for ever.

Addressing the people after performing ground-breaking ceremony for Sri Venkateswara Institute if Cancer Care and Advanced Research (SVICCAR) in Tirupati on Friday along with Tata Trusts Chairman Ratan N Tata, the CM has said that this institute will offer consultation services from March 2019. It will become a centre for cancer care in entire South India which will be linked to cancer care centres of NTR Trust in all district headquarters in Andhra Pradesh.

The CM arrived at the venue almost two hours behind schedule and performed bhoomi puja for the new Institute to be established on the Alipiri-Cherlopalli road amidst traditional rituals. Later, he reached the dais along with Ratan Tata and unveiled the plaque and the miniature model of the hospital.

The CM has felt that in the coming days SVICCAR will become a sacred cancer institute which Tata Trusts have taken up under 100 per cent Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative. For the 300-bed hospital a special purpose vehicle Alamelu Charitable Trust was established and lauded Ratan Tata who donated his entire property to Tata Trusts.

“He is the most respected personality in the country. Money earning is one aspect and making it useful for the society is another and only a few will follow the second point among which Ratan Tata was one. Bill Gates also donated his earning to Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,” he recalled. SVICCAR will have all modern facilities.

It will have all facilities for providing radiation therapy and educational training programmes thus will develop as a command centre for entire cancer care. This hospital will go a long way in treatment of cancer as the state reports almost 50,000 new cancer cases annually and almost 70 per cent of cancer cases are not being identified at early stages. Tata Trusts are partnering with five state governments and the Central government in the conception and implementation of this cancer care project.

Naidu underlined that all women over 35 years of age will be screened under women master health check-up for breast, cervical and oral cancers. So far 18 lakh check-ups were completed. This was towards reducing the medical expenditure of poor people and providing them good medical care.

Tirupati is already having SVIMS, BIRRD, Ruia and two government medical colleges and Kanchi Kamakoti Medical College will be coming up soon. He listed out various development activities to be taken up in the city like elevated smart corridor, digital door numbers and others.

Entire city will be brought under surveillance cameras to make it safer. In the evening, CM Naidu has inaugurated Anna Canteen at MR Palli in Tirupati which was built with Rs 36 lakh. It will provide food for 500 people daily.

Speaking on the occasion of ground-breaking ceremony, Ratan Tata said that they have been taking various initiatives towards cancer care in the country. “Cancer does not choose between rich and poor and it’s deadly to the core.

It was considered once as a deadly disease and the situation has improved remarkably now with various advancements in treatment procedures and a day will come when we can say that cancer is completely curable,” he stressed. He added that the facility was meant for under-privileged to provide them better healthcare and assured the state government that they will team up with it for any such initiatives.

TTD EO AK Singhal has said that as directed by the CM as part of his efforts to develop all districts on par with the Capital, TTD has donated 25 acres to Tata Trusts to set up the facility. He said that they have been developing Avilala tank with Rs 80 crore to provide spiritual environment there. He recalled that TCS has been extending free IT services to TTD from the beginning.

Along with several Tata Trusts officials, Minister for Municipal Administration P Narayana, MPs Kesineni Srinivas, Dr N Siva Prasad, MLA M Suguna, Principal Secretary of Medical and Health department Poonam Malakondaiah, TTD Trust Board Chairaman P Sudhakar Yadav, Collector PS Pradyumna, ZP Chairperson S Geervani, TUDA Chairman G Narasimha Yadav and other officials were present.