Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to set up a Tata Memorial Cancer Centre in the state to provide affordable care to cancer patients in Odisha.
Patnaik in his letter said that although the state has a good number of public and private hospitals along with a branch of AIIMS catering to the needs of people of Odisha and neighbouring states; it lacks an advanced cancer hospital and research centre in the public sector.
Citing that the Department of Atomic Energy is extending grant-in-aid for setting up Tata Memorial Centres at various locations in the country, Patnaik highlighted that Odisha will be immensely benefited if the Centre could set up such a centre at Bhubaneswar.
“In view of the emerging role of Odisha in providing medical care, it would be helpful to have a hub of the Tata Memorial Centre in Odisha. This will be of invaluable service to the poor patients of Odisha as well as of neighbouring states,” Patnaik wrote.
Besides, the CM also assured to extend all necessary support from the State government for the purpose.
The State government had recently extended free cancer treatment to 13 district headquarters hospitals including Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar and the government hospital in Rourkela. Presently, Cuttack-based Acharya Harihar Regional Cancer Centre is the only cancer speciality hospital in the state.