For Madhya Pradesh, the Centre has planned a new State Cancer Institute (SCI), along with two Tertiary Care Cancer Centres (TCCC).

Announcing this at a press conference here, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Health Minister, said that annually 11 lakh new cases of cancer are detected in India. Of the 2.9 million cancer patients at present in the country, about 6.06 percent are in Madhya Pradesh.

The three facilities planned for MP are: Vidisha district hospital, GR Medical College, Gwalior, and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Medical College, Jabalpur. The first two are to be TCCCs while the one at Jabalpur would be a SCI.

Each 50-bedded TCCC will be part of an existing government hospital with well equipped and functional departments of Medicine, Surgery, Gynaecology, ENT, Pathology and Radiology. The Union Health Ministry will provide one-time support of up to Rs 45 crore to each TCCC, including up to 30 percent for construction and renovation,

The Health Minister said that the government will also set up 20 SCIs across the country in the short term future, one of which will come up in Jabalpur. The total cost of each will be Rs.120 crore, of which the Centre will contribute 75 percent. In all, 50 such institutes are planned in the country over the long term.

“Each SCI will be the apex institution in the state for cancer related activities. It will provide outreach services, diagnosis and referral treatment, develop treatment protocols and increase the human resource availability”, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said.