The Lions Cancer Detection Centre Trust, which runs a cancer treatment centre in new civil hospital campus, Surat, has decided to start a Linear Accelerator Radiotherapy Centre adjacent to the existing centre.
"We have been provided 600 sq mt land adjacent to our existing cancer treatment centre by the state government. We will develop a world-class Linear Accelerator Radiotherapy Centre on it, which will enable us provide even better treatment to the patients coming to us," Vinod Desai, chairman of Lions Cancer Detection Centre Trust, told reporters.
Chief minister Narendra Modi is slated to lay the foundation stone of the new centre, which will be built at an estimated cost of around Rs14 - 15 crore, on Saturday. The centre's building will cost Rs2.5 crore while the rest will be spent for the equipment.
"A dual energy linear accelerator, integrated electron treatment facility, CT scan and Brachy therapy machine are some of the equipments that will be installed at the new centre. The treatment will be free for BPL patients while other patients will be provided treatment at subsidised cost decided by the state government," Desai said further.
Trust officials said that this treatment is available only in two places in Gujarat currently, one in Ahmedabad and the second in Dhoraji. "The centre will become the only one of its kind between Ahmedabad and Mumbai, and prove to be a boon for people in the region," MK Wadhel, superintendent, new civil hospital, Surat, said.
The Trust, which will raise funds for the project via donations, expects to start the centre within a year. The existing cancer centre of the trust is operational from 1980 and has provided treatment to approximately 10 lakh patients so far.
