PM lays foundation stone for India's first Hadron facility in Mumbai -Governance Now

PM lays foundation stone for India's first Hadron facility in Mumbai

Funded by the department of atomic energy, the facility is expected to cost Rs 425 crore and is likely to be completed within four years

Geetanjali Minhas | January 11, 2014

The foundation stone for the the country's first Hadron therapy centre was laid by prime minister Manmohan Singh at the Tata Memorial hospital in Mumbai.

The Rs 425-crore National Hadron Beam Facility and a Cancer Centre for Women & Children will be funded “entirely by the government through the department of atomic energy”, the PM said on Friday. He further said the facility is likely to be completed within the next four years.

This is the first such facility in India and it places India among a select group of countries in the world to offer this advanced treatment for cancer,” Singh said adding that fighting and preventing cancer is a top priority for the government.

The facility will cater to around 1500 people every year and will also provide accommodation (dharamshala) to 250 patients and their attendants coming from different parts of the country. Additionally, for residential requirements of the medical fraternity, a hostel facility for 700 persons will be constructed.

In the last two weeks, foundation stones for two other cancer treatment facilities — Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre by Tata Memorial Centre in Chandigarh (on December 30) and National Cancer Institute in Jhajjar near Delhi under the aegis of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) (on January 3) — were laid by the PM.

In addition, Singh said that he will soon launch the construction of another regional hub of the Tata Memorial Centre in Vishakapatnam which will serve patients in south India.

Speaking on the occasion, Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, said his government had made available 5 acres of land to establish the Hadron facility and other centres to Tata Memorial Centre free of cost.

Hadron beam facility constitutes a part of radiation therapy for cancer treatment. In the conventional radiation therapy, x-rays of high-energy photons are used to destroy tumors which also affect normal tissue. On the other hand, the Hadron beam therapy uses irradiated beams made of charged particles of protons and other ions such as carbon which penetrate the body with little diffusion and destroy cancerous tissues in a more focussed manner thus causing minimum damage to healthy tissues. Also, Hadron therapy enhances the quality of life during and after cancer treatment.

Comments

Other News

General Elections: Phase 3 voter turnout 64.4%

Polling in third phase of General Elections recorded an approximate voter turnout of 64.4%, as of 11:40 pm Tuesday, as per the data released by the Election Commission of India close to the midnight. The trend of lower turnout witnessed in the first two phases has thus continued in this round too.

How infra development is shaping India story

India is the world’s fifth largest economy with a GDP of USD 3.7 trillion today, and it is expected to become the third largest economy with a GDP of USD 5 trillion in five years. The Narendra Modi-led government aims to make India a developed country by 2047. A key driver of this economic growth and

75 visitors from abroad watch world’s largest elections unfold

As a beacon of electoral integrity and transparency, the Election Commission of India (ECI) exemplifies its commitment to conduct general elections of the highest standards, offering a golden bridge for global Election Management Bodies (EMBs) to witness democratic excellence first-hand. It continues foste

‘Oral cancer deaths in India cause productivity loss of 0.18% GDP’

A first-of-its-kind study on the economic loss due to premature death from oral cancer in India by the Tata Memorial Centre has found that this form of cancer has a premature mortality rate of 75.6% (34 premature events / 45 total events) resulting in productivity loss of approximately $5.6 billion in 2022

Days of Reading: Upendra Baxi recalls works that shaped his youth

Of Law and Life Upendra Baxi in Conversation with Arvind Narrain, Lawrence Liang, Sitharamam Kakarala, and Sruti Chaganti Orient BlackSwan, Rs 2,310

Voting by tribal communities blossoms as ECI’s efforts bear fruit

The efforts made by the Election Commission of India (ECI), over last two years, for inclusion of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) communities and other tribal groups in the electoral process have borne fruit with scenes of tribal groups in various states/UTs participating enthusiastically in t