- Cancer patients in Maharashtra will get free chemotherapy treatment at the nearest district government hospital
- The government has taken a decision to provide free chemotherapy treatment in all government hospitals’ in phased manner.
- In the first phase, chemotherapy treatment will be provided in 10 districts.
- The government has planned to roll-out this scheme by June 2018.
- For the first phase Nagpur, Gadchiroli, Pune, Amaravati, Jalgaon, Nashik, Wardha, Bhandara, Satara and Aloka districts have been selected.
- Doctors from Tata Memorial Centre, will help by providing three weeks training to the physicians and the nursing staff, who come from these districts. The training will begin from May.
India has a huge cancer burden upon itself. Thousands of lives are lost every year, as the front-life treatment of the cancer – chemotherapy, is not widely available, especially in rural areas. Poor and needy patients are forced to go for private hospitals, where they can’t afford the rising cost of treatment.
This decision will help save precious lives as people will have easier access to chemotherapy at government hospitals across the state.
While speaking about this new initiative, Dr Deepak Sawant, Maharashtra’s Health Minister said, “Now the government is making chemotherapy treatment available at the district level in government hospitals. Patients from remote areas need not to come to all the way to Mumbai for treatment now. They can save the money spent in travelling and finding a place to stay. From June 2018, all the units will start administering chemotherapy. In the second phase, the treatment will be made available in the remaining districts as well.”
As per National Cancer registration program figures: