Tata Main Hospital, Jamshedpur has come out with a comprehensive cancer care facility keeping in mind the increasing number of cases of the disease every year.
The facilities include Bone Marrow Transplant with a special Bone Marrow Transplant Centre that has been developed. The procedure is successful in various medical conditions. Chemo therapy facilities were already available here. The Meherbai Tata Memorial Hospital (MTMH) will serve as a level I cancer treatment Centre and can be regarded as an apex centre for research and complex treatment facility for the disease
Being the level 1 research and complex treatment Centre, MTMH has already started offering Comprehensive Cancer Care (CCC) facility in Jamshedpur. While facilities at TMH would be used for Surgical Oncology, MTMH would offer Radiation Oncology. Medical Oncology available at TMH and MTMH is under the expert guidance of HOD, Medical Oncology Dr. Anil Kumar Dhar, VSM. Dr. Dhar who has recently joined, is an ex-head of the department of Medical Oncology at the Army Research and Referral (R & R) in New Delhi. He has also served in important institutions like Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Artemis Hospital, Gurgaon. He had a post-doctoral training in Medical Oncology from Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai.
Experts say that high cost is involved for cancer treatment in the private sector and only around 20 % population can afford the same. Besides, there is limited infrastructure and skill available in the Government health care sector as far as treatment of cancer is concerned. Moreover, healthcare facilities are primarily concentrated in West and South Indian states. Total costs of cancer treatment comes anywhere between Rs 4 lakh to Rs 10 lakh which involves expenses incurred in OPD & diagnostics, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, oncosurgery, etc.
As far as cancer cases in Jharkhand is concerned, at present around 33,000-34,000 cases are added every year and the trend is increasing. For example, in the year 2015, 32,035 new cases were added while in 2017, a total of 34,183 new cancer patients were added. The data from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and collated from the hospitals of Jamshedpur, Ranchi and Bokaro further suggests that in the year 2020, number of new cancer cases may go up to 37,679 and by 2022 it would be around 40,205. Hence the significance of good quality treatment of cancer assumes greater importance in the State.
