KURNOOL: The proposed State Cancer Research Institute and Hospital in Kurnool city are likely to start functioning in the next couple of months. Almost 80 per cent of civil work of the Rs 120-crore cancer hospital-cum-research institute has been completed on the Kurnool Medical College premises. The medical equipment and machinery of the institute, attached to the medical college, would be installed soon.
The central Department of Atomic Energy would provide the equipment. The Tata Cancer Hospital, Mumbai, would provide technical support. The institute would cater to hundreds of patients from all over Rayalaseema, Dr C Prabhakar Reddy, Deputy Superintendent, Kurnool Government General Hospital, said.
The absence of a cancer treatment facility in Rayalaseema has been forcing several patients to seek medical care outside the State. The poor, however, could not afford the distant medical facilities. After the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, major healthcare infrastructure remained in Telangana, since almost all of them were in Hyderabad.
To address the issue, the Andhra Pradesh Medical Health and Family Welfare Department mooted the setting up of a State Cancer Hospital at Kurnool and two regional cancer centres at Nellore and Rajamahendravaram.
The State government sought the Centre’s permission and financial aid for the cancer hospital and two regional centres under the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke.
“The State already has a cancer-care facility at Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences, and hence the government chose Kurnool for setting up the cancer hospital,” Dr Reddy said, adding a Rs 60-crore modern diagnostic block is being constructed. The facilities would available free of cost.