Kochi: Eminent oncologist and special officer (technical) of the Kochi Cancer Centre has said that currently procedural delays in the government system were delaying the realization of the cancer centre, but everyone involved was co-operating and he was hopeful of establishing a model hospital cum research centre in Kochi.
He told DC on Sunday that contrary to popular perception, the major challenge in setting up the OP wing of the cancer centre would come when the issue of staffing was taken up, which he was tasked with.
“We are planning not just OP, but the IP on a limited scale without which there is no meaning in starting the centre. We cannot ask the patients to go to other hospitals for chemotherapy. Initially there will be four divisions, namely surgical, medical, radiation and palliative oncology and at least one specialist is needed to man these sections. It is very difficult to get people to head these departments. We also have to visualize situations when the main persons go on leave. So the staffing is a challenging area,” Dr Gangadharan said.
Dr Gangadharan said that initially there would be wards in surgical and medical oncology apart from casualty. “The Kochi Cancer Centre should be visualized as a centre not only to treat patients but to prevent the disease, detection of the disease at an early stage, compiling the data on various types of cancers hitting the state, teaching, training and also research. In such a way it can assume an international stature,” said Dr Gangadharan.
He said that he had given the clear outline of the staffing pattern to the health department including nurses. “But currently the stumbling block is getting possession of the Ernakulam Government Medical College pay ward building and arranging the physical infrastructure by the PWD,” he said. But he added that “everybody showing a positive attitude will help realize the centre”.
Dues to contractor not yet paid
The Co-operative Academy for Professional Education (CAPE) which owns the payward building of the Ernakulam government medical college (EGMC), where the OP wing of the Kochi Cancer Centre is to come up, owes Rs 83 lakh to the contractor who built the building as security deposit and retention fee.
This is a major block in the path of the PWD to take possession of the building to start work on the cancer centre OP. The government has to pay the money to CAPE which will have to hand over the same to the contractor. According to the EGMC principal Dr Aswini Kumar, the money has not been given to CAPE so far. “Though the Government has ordered the handing over of the building for the purpose of starting the OP, this obligation is not yet met,” he said.
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