Berhampur: A 60-bed cancer care centre will be established at MKCG Medical College and Hospital. Construction of the four-storey building for the centre is almost over.
Built at a cost of Rs 76 crore, the building will be handed over to the medical college after completion of electricity and water supply works in the next three to four months, said Somanath Tripathy, executive engineer, works department, Berhampur-1 division.
The proposed centre to be set up under the “Odisha Comprehensive Cancer Care Plan” will have 40 beds — 20 beds each for male and female patients — and an additional 20 beds for daycare patients, sources said.
“After taking possession of the building, we will install modern machines and other equipment to treat the patients,” said a senior doctor of the medical college and hospital here. The proposed centre will have two departments — medical oncology and radiation therapy. Currently, a 20-bed radiation department is functioning in the hospital.
“The proposed centre will be a milestone in cancer treatment in southern Odisha districts. Cancer patients in the southern Odisha districts will not have to rush to Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh or Cuttack for cancer treatment,” said MLA (Berhampur) K. Anil Kumar.
Sources said in 2019-20, altogether 7,865 cancer patients visited the OPD of the medical college and hospital, and 1,285 were treated indoors. In 2022-23, their number increased to 8,353 in OPD and 2,579 indoors, sources added. The latest figures are not available, they added.