Mumbai: A national Cancer grid has been
proposed by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) to introduce
uniform standards of care and reduce patient flow to its
'mother' hospital in the city and is likely to get approval at
the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) meeting during the weekend.
The proposed Cancer Grid will link the department's
Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, which specialises in Cancer
treatment with centres in Kolkata, Jorhat and Bhopal.
"The proposal has recommended for good infrastructure
and development of adequate human resource in other centres,"
the TMC director Dr R A Badwe said.
The proposal also said the seamless connectivity will
be made through the very high-speed National Knowledge
Network, he said.
The Cancer centres at Shillong (which is expected to
be ready by one-and-half years) and a new hospital that the
Department of Atomic Energy plans to set up in its upcoming
complex at Visakhapatnam will also be connected, he said.
"Cancer patients from across the country, particularly
eastern and northeastern parts, throng the Tata Memorial
Centre in Mumbai as it provides the best standards of Cancer
care in India. It gets patients from across the country,
including the east," AEC chairman Srikumar Banerjee said.
After initial phase of treatment, they need to visit
the TMC at least once every year for medical check ups and
follow-up treatment, he said.
"The grid will allow patients to access similar
standards of care from a hospital closer to their own place of
stay," Badwe said.
These patients can visit the centres at Kolkata (the
150-bedded Tata Memorial Hospital which will become
operational by October this year), Jorhat or Shillong and send
across their medical reports to TMC using the grid.
Oncologists visiting the remote centre can advise them on the
future course of treatment, he added.
The grid will also connect hospitals with
communicating facilities to some of them in Vellore and
Thiruvananthapuram, Badwe said.
When asked about the human resource, Badwe said, there
will be training programme for three years and around 30 to
35 persons will be trained annually for distribution between
three or four hospitals, he said.
TMC is already using telemedicine facility in a big
way and this national Cancer grid will further help the
patients living in remote corners of the country, Badwe said.
PTI
First Published: Friday, July 30, 2010, 15:34