KOCHI: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday said that the Kochi Cancer Research Centre (KCRC) outpatient (OP) wing will initially make use of the facilities at the Ernakulam Government Medical College and patients should be aware of the limitations of the OP as well. “In the initial phase patients would be referred to other centres since only a limited facility is functioning at the cancer centre now. Patients and relatives need to bear with that. In the normal course OP never starts functioning before the main block is set up. In the case of KCRC, the government bucked the trend because of the strong popular demand to start the OP,” said the Chief Minister while inaugurating the OP at a function held near the centre on Friday.
He said that in the first phase a 100-bed hospital will be built as part of the cancer centre. The Chief Minister said that contrary to the previous popular perception that cancer is the end of life, the recent study of Regional Cancer Centre showed that 50 percent of the people affected by cancer survive it, while the rate was as high was 80 percent among people on whom it was detected at an early stage. He also asked the new generation Malayalees to change lifestyle and avoid fast food and intoxicants to keep diseases including cancer at bay.
Presiding over the function Health Minister K.K. Shylaja said that the masterplan of the Kochi Cancer Research Centre is for Rs 362 crore and the state budget has allocated '10 crore for this year. She also said that as part of the comprehensive plan the cancer wings in the medical college will be strengthened and super specialty wings and cath labs will be started in district hospitals. “Dialysis centres will be started in 42 taluk hospitals. We are also devising plans for the rehabilitation of cancer survivors. Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) will chalk out all funding,” she said. District Collector Muhammed Y. Safirulla, Prof M.K. Sanu, K.V. Thomas MP, V.K. Ebrahim Kunju MLA and CPM district secretary P Rajeev also attended the function.
