Shillong, July 29: Cancer patients from Meghalaya would be treated at Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre in New Delhi on a priority basis and offered 10 per cent discount on their hospital charges. This was agreed in Delhi yesterday when Meghalaya Chief Minister D D Lapang visited the RGCIRC and requested the hospital authorities to set up a modern cancer treatment centre at Shillong.

RGCIRC director Satya Pal Bhatia agreed to a proposal put forward by the chief minister that patients from Meghalaya get priority in admission, besides a discount in the institute, till such a facility became functional in the state capital, an official release said here today. The RGCIRC also agreed to another request of the Chief Minister to train doctors and technicians from Meghalaya free of cost. These persons could go back to the state and in turn train others.

The first batch consisting of five specialists - one each in medicine, ENT, gynaecology, radiology and pathology - would be sent to the institute in August, the release said.

Bhatia expressed readiness for collaborating with the state government and agreed to prepare a model plan for a 30-bed facility here. Bureau Report