Cancer wing for GMCH

Guwahati, July 1: Dispur today announced its plan to set up a separate cancer hospital under Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH).

Making the announcement, Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the proposed speciality hospital would give a fillip to facilities for cancer cure in the state. The minister said construction of the 200-bed hospital would begin this month. The target date of completion is March 31, 2009.

The total cost of setting up the hospital will be around Rs 52 crore. Of that amount, around Rs 7 crore will be spent on construction of the building while Rs 45 crore will be used for procuring machinery and equipment.

The proposed hospital will have three divisions — radiotherapy, surgical oncology and medical oncology. According to the minister, the cancer hospital will have a Positron Emission Tomography scanner, which is one of the latest imaging techniques that can detect cancer at an early stage.
The government has zeroed in on two sites to set up the hospital and one of them will be finalised soon.
The minister said preparations are under way for holding a daylong convention of the Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers under the National Rural Health Mission at the Veterinary College playground in Khanapara on July 8. Union health minister Anbumani Ramadoss will attend the convention.
Sarma said two new schemes for the health sector would be launched coinciding with the ASHA convention. “On July 8, the state government will sign an MoU with Satyam Computers to provide ambulance services to one and all free of cost for any health emergency — be it a heart attack or road accident,” the minister said.
According to the MoU, the government and Satyam will set up an Emergency Management and Research Institute (EMRI), which will run the ambulance service.
The EMRI will be set up in public-private partnership, where Satyam will bear 10 per cent of the total cost while the remaining amount will be borne by the government.
An amount of Rs 50 crore will be required to run the service in the first year of its launch. Under this scheme, one in need of emergency medical help anywhere in the state will only have to dial the toll-free number 108 and within 12 seconds the call will be received at the EMRI control room to be set up in Guwahati.
According to the minister, the EMRI will then send in a well-equipped ambulance from its nearest centre to the spot within half an hour.
The ambulances will have life support system with all facilities required for intensive care. One ambulance each will be provided to every ward in Guwahati and to every block in the rest of the state.
The EMRI service will start all over the state by March 31 next year. The service is already running in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.
Sarma said mobile phone handsets with SIM cards would be provided to 7,000 health workers, including doctors, nurses, health department officials and the health minister. “This will be the second scheme to be launched by the government on the sidelines of the ASHA meet.”
All the SIMs to be provided by the BSNL will be connected under the close user group scheme so that any calls made between two numbers under the scheme can be toll-free. Those calls which will be made to numbers outside the scheme will only be charged. The objective of this scheme is to improve connectivity among the health workers in the state to enable them to deliver better healthcare to the people. source: telegraph india