Krishna Iyer slams Ghulam Nabi Azad on ‘pittance’ for cancer centre

Kochi: Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer, who is campaigning for a cancer centre of international standards in Kochi, has accused Union Health Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad of “humiliating” the city by announcing merely a tertiary cancer care hospital for it and even worse, providing a “pittance” for its establishment.

The minister had on Thursday offered a Central grant of Rs 45 crore for the cancer care hospital . Justice Iyer, who is keen on a sophisticated cancer care centre coming up in the campus of the Kochi government medical college , made no bones about his unhappiness at a press conference here on Friday.

“What we need is a cancer research centre-cum -hospital of international standards and not a municipal dispensary. The people of Kerala are as important as the rich in Delhi. Kochi needs this centre as it lies in the centre of Kerala,” he insisted with critic, M K Sanu strongly backing him. The two men appealed to  the Prime Minister and the President to have a rethink on the issue and sanction a cancer institute of international standards for Kochi.

Former Ernakulam district collector, K R Viswambharan rued that although the Prime Minister had been in Kochi for two days recently,  no state authority  had bothered to explain to him how much the city needed a cancer institute and get his approval for it.

While the Regional Cancer Centre  has been upgraded to a state centre with an allocation of Rs 125 crore from the Centre, the state government has not made any allocation of its own for it  beside the Rs 5 crore provided in the last budget.