KOLKATA: Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute’s 460-bed new campus was officially launched on Friday.
A collaborative project between the central and state governments, this public sector cancer specialty hospital in Bengal has the latest equipment and state-of-the-art facilities to offer advanced care for cancer patients.
Apart from patients in Bengal, this hospital is expected to cater to those from neighbouring states as well.
It was inaugurated virtually by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee while Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya was present in person on the Rajarhat campus on Friday.
Built over 10 acres in Rajarhat, this new campus will have advanced diagnostic services and the latest equipment, including those for imaging, apart from a nuclear medicine facility, surgical oncology, radiation oncology, preventive oncology, and palliative care.
The pandemic had derailed the opening of this new campus, but OPD services were made partly functional in August 2020. In fact, a tower on the hospital campus is still being used as a Covid facility by the Ben-gal government.
An amount of about Rs 530 crore has been pumped into this hospital — the Centre has provided Rs 400 crore while the remaining Rs 130 crore has been given by the state in a 75:25 ratio.
Although Kolkata now has some cancer specialty hospitals, which include Thakurpukur Cancer Hospital, Tata Medical Centre and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Cancer Hospital, so far, CNCI is the only government-run cancer hospital in Bengal.
An autonomous body under the central government, with a stake from the state government, CNCI started its first campus in Hazra in 1950. The 200-bed hospital has been under tremendous patient load. An expansion plan in 2005 for a new campus in Tollygunge had to be aborted as the land available was not sufficient. The proposal for the Rajarhat unit was made in 2008, where the state government provided 7.5 acres free of cost. The remaining 2.5 acres were purchased by CNCI with funds provided by the government of India.
Apart from cancer treatment, the second campus will have an advanced research unit.
