Sunday, August 6, 2017

Major Health Project Needs Urgent Injection Of Manpower After Delays Result In increased Cancer Patient Deaths

A major health project, which is a ray of hope for thousands of cancer patients in India at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) at Jajjhar, needs a big push. 

Construction work on ground of the central government's ambitious health project shows that it will take at least two years to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi's deadline, even if it begins straight away.

While PMO's deadline to start the first OPD of NCI was December 2017, the project is delayed and only skeleton buildings have been put up.

KhabarLive visited NCI only to find construction work of one of the biggest health project worth `2035 crore, going at a turtle's pace.

A worker at the construction site said: 'Forget about OPD in December 2017. It is delayed by a year.


'We lack manpower. We are only done with few half-constructed buildings. There are still no equipment, beds, diagnostic tools,' he said.

'Work started in December 2015 and its first OPD should start by December 2017. A full-fledged cancer institute should be functioning by September 2018.

'The project is expected to be completed with next three years. The delay is visible,' said a senior doctor.

'We are not done with power supply sub-station and water connection. Constructing an electricity sub station takes at least 10 months.

'We are awaiting a meeting with the Haryana government,' said sources in AIIMS.

The institute is being built in a 32-acre Badsha village of Haryana.

It is being constructed on the lines of the National Cancer Institute of USA, as the government of India made a MoU with the USA NCI during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's October-2014 visit to America.

The institute will have 710 beds, of which 200 beds will be dedicated to Translational Research in India specific cancers.

When KhabarLive contacted AIIMS director Dr Randeep Guleria, he said: 'We are having weekly meetings on the progress of the NCI project.

'Even if it is being delayed, we want to launch OPD in a holistic manner. Purchase of equipments, recruitments of faculty, technicians and staff is yet to be done.
But we are hoping to be able to meet the deadline.'

There are hundreds of patients who fight to get treatment at Dr B R Ambedkar Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital.

A senior AIIMS doctor, on the condition of anonymity, said AIIMS' cancer department saw about 1,500 patients a day, with only around 300 receiving treatment.

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