KOCHI: The government has begun the hunt for a person to be appointed as director of the Kochi Cancer Centre to take its works forward even as it proposes to open the outpatient wing in November. This decision was taken at a meeting of the centre’s governing council on Monday, chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in Thiruvananthapuram and attended among others by health minister K.K. Shylaja, health secretary Rajeev Sadanandan, director of medical education, director of health services, Ernakulam Medical College principal Dr V.K. Sreekala and district collector and special officer for the project Muhammed Y. Safarulla.
An official who attended the meeting said applications will be invited for the post of the director but it has not been specified whether the person should be from the government sector. Anybody with experience in cancer treatment will get preference. The director’s mandate will be to run the OP and realize the second and third phases of the project. Thereafter, the district collector, who is currently functioning as the special officer, will cease to be an active player in the project.
The government has already sanctioned 31 posts for the centre and an administrative officer, finance officer, three staff members and one part-time cancer specialist have taken charge. A recruitment committee comprising the special officer, DME, DHS, administrative officer and EMC principal will find ways to fill up the remaining posts. This may be on contract basis or through deputation as the government is against transferring specialists due to their shortage.
The central government-owned Hospital Service Consultancy Corporation (HSCC) will be asked to revise the detailed project report (DPR) for the project as currently it has made only made a layout of the project. The governing body also decided to ask HSCC to reduce its commission from 7 per cent to 5 per cent of the project cost and another government agency would be selected to do the job if it was not agreeable to the proposal. A total of 12.12 acres have been earmarked for the cancer centre.
