200 bed cancer hospital to be inaugurated on October 2

The 200 bedded cancer hospital at Gauhati Medical College Hospital (GMCH) will be inaugurated on 2nd October, 2016 and the Positron Emission Tomography (PET) CT scan, which is the first of its kind in the northeast, will be inaugurated on 18th August, 2016 within the premises of GMCH. The PET CT scan machine, which costs around Rs. 33 lakhs, is a nuclear medical imaging technique which produces a three-dimensional image of functional processes in the body. “There will be three departments viz. medical oncology, surgical oncology and radiation oncology. Medical oncology deals with the treatment of cancer primarily with drugs, termed chemotherapy. Surgical oncology deals with cancer of the breast, bone, uterus, kidney, etc. and radiation oncology will primarily deal with radiotherapy,” said Dr. AK Adhikari, Principal of GMCH, while speaking to G Plus.   Dr. Adhikari said that the hospital will have state-of-the-art facilities for patients so that they do not have to go out of the state for better treatment. The hospital will also have a linear accelerator, a 16 slice CT scan machine and mammography machine. “The number of cancer patients is increasing and it is very high in the northeast and Assam. There are many factors for which the disease is increasing and some of the reasons are changes of lifestyle, tobacco consumption, chewing of betel-nuts, etc. In Assam throat cancer is highest and chewing of betel-nuts is one of the reasons for this,” Dr. Adhikari informed.   The budget for the hospital is Rs. 84 crores and the hospital will function as an autonomous body.    As per Hospital Based Cancer Registry of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for the year 2007-2011, the proportion of childhood cancer relative to cancers in all age groups varied between 1.7% and 10.9%. The relative proportion is lowest in Guwahati for boys (1.7%). Leukaemia is the predominant form of childhood cancer in both boys and girls. In boys, lymphoma is the second most common cancer. Other common childhood cancers are C.N.S. tumours, bone, soft-tissue sarcomas, retinoblastoma and germ-cell tumours. During the period 2007-2011, 114 boys and 87 girls registered at Dr. B. Borooah Cancer Institute.       Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has also declared in the Assembly that 100-bedded cancer units with LINAC machine will be opened at the medical colleges at Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Tezpur, Silchar and Barpeta. Sarma informed the House that 90,000 cancer patients were detected in the state during the last five years. “In B. Barooah Cancer Institute alone, 86,405 cancer patients were registered during the last five years,” the Minister said.   In the population of the state of Assam, cancers of mouth and oesophagus are common in men and in women breast cancer, uterine cervix and gall bladder are common. Cancer is not a disease of curse. It is caused due to the negligence of the people. Cancer is a preventable disease and early detection of the disease is very important. In Assam and other north-eastern states, cancer is caused due to habits and changing lifestyles. Now-a-days, skin cancer is also common and the disease is increasing day by day as it is detected in the last stage in most of the cases.    According to NCRP report, cancer cases in male is more than female in Kamrup Urban and the first five highest Crude Rate (CR) in Kamrup Urban in male is 128.1 and in female is 109.5 per 1,00,000 population.   Globally every year, 1 crore new cancer cases are detected and if the current trend continues by 2020, there will be 1.5 crore new cancer cases each year out of which, nearly 1 crore patients will die from this dreaded disease. In India, almost 12 lakh new cancer cases are detected every year and there are more than 30 lakh cancer cases prevalent in the country.    • The cancer hospital in GMCH premises will be inaugurated on 2nd October • PET CT scan machine will be inaugurated on 18th August • The budget for the 200 bedded hospital is Rs. 84 crores and it will be an autonomous body • The number of throat cancer is more in Assam due to the consumption of tobacco • In the last five years 86,405 cancer patients were registered in B. Barooah Cancer Insititute