THE people of Haryana have so far lacked good healthcare facilities; either they had to go to Post-graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, or rush to Delhi. This seems to be changing now. Haryana is concentrating on healthcare facilities and the latest landmark is AIIMS Jhajjar, which has been specially designed for cancer treatment under the dynamic leadership of Dr Randeep Guleria, Director, AIIMS, Delhi, and Dr GK Rath, Chief, Dr BR Ambedkar Institute, Rotary Cancer Hospital, AIIMS.
The healthcare landscape of India started shaping up with the establishment of AIIMS in 1956. It is considered as the best medical college and public hospital in the country and is globally recognised for providing low-cost medical care to a large number of patients. The institute, already having extensions in Ballabhgarh, Haryana, and Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, has now come up in Jhajjar, Haryana, with a huge complex known as AIIMS Badsa, or AIIMS Jhajjar. AIIMS-II spreads over 330 acres (1.335 square kilometres) of land. The newest addition to the campus, built with an initial cost of Rs. 2,035 crore. Spread over 32 acres within the 330-acre Jhajjar campus of AIIMS, the National Cancer Institute (NCO) is the apex Centre for Translational Research in Prevention & Care of India Centric Cancers.
It is the Independent India’s largest public-funded healthcare project. It has more than 700 beds dedicated to patients suffering from cancer, over 350 dwelling units and more than 1,000 hostel rooms for doctors and staff, PI-based labs, tissue/bio-banking facility.
Dr Rath, who heads AIIMS Jhajjar project, said, “When functional, the institute will open doors and provide career and job opportunity to nearly 3,500 individuals. It’s going to be Asia’s biggest hospital”.
The Apex Centre for Translational Research in Prevention & Care of India Centric Cancers is collaborating with the National Institute of Cancer of USA, La Foundation De I’ Academie de Medecine of France, Barts Cancer Institute in Queen Mary University of London in UK and many more national and international organisations to carry out high quality research. It will engage scientists from medical, bio-informatics and molecular medicine background to ensure quality research output.
THE institute will bridge the gap for cancer healthcare, providing state-of-the-art facility to patients. It will be the largest institute which will pioneer in the field of translational research for giving better treatment options and modalities. It is believed that the institute will concentrate on the various unanswered questions through research regarding prevention, early diagnosis and management of Indian cancers like the oral cancers, gall bladder cancers, cervical cancers, etc.
There are hundreds of patients who seek treatment at Dr BR Ambedkar Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital. A senior AIIMS doctor, on the condition of anonymity, said AIIMS’ cancer department witnesses about 1,500 patients a day, while only around 300 get treated and the rest go back.