Foundation stone laid for cancer hospital in Dibrugarh

A Correspondent

Dibrugarh, June 18: Along with Guwahati, Dibrugarh will also have a cancer hospital of L-1 model. The foundation stone for the same was laid on Monday at the campus of Assam Medical College and Hospital (AMCH). The function, which was held to mark the occasion, started in the morning near the Pathology Department of AMCH with a bhoomi pujan ceremony done by Lahoal MLA Rituparna Baruah.

Gracing the occasion, Dibrugarh MLA Prashanta Phukan declared it a landmark moment for scores of people, adding that such a step would go down in the pages of history as one of the noblest of initiatives. He, at the same time, held that such a specialist hospital, when ready to function, would also cater to the dire needs of the cancer-affected people of the States of Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland. Famed litterateur and former president of Axam Xahitya Xabha, Dr. Nagen Saikia in his speech advised the gathering to take the society forward by promoting a scientific bent of mind, and cautioned the people against the evils of harbouring superstitious beliefs.

Lauding the advent of such a hospital, Saikia observed that the cancer centre would also go a long way towards generating awareness about the deadly disease among the masses. Addressing the gathering, Deputy Commissioner Laya Madduri said that the number of cancer patients in Assam and Northeast were increasing recently. Assam was also a victim of the poor diagnosis of cancer due to which many patients in the past had to face death, she added. Madduri expressed hope that the specialist cancer centre would do away with the existing lacunae. The other dignitaries to grace the event included MLA Chakradhar Gogoi and Principal of AMCH, Dr. Hiranya Kumar Goswami.