Union Health Ministry asks states to adopt Assam cancer care model

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: The Union Ministry of Health asked other states to adopt and implement the Assam cancer care model with the requisite state-specific adaptations and intimate the action-taken report to the ministry.

Senior economic adviser to the Health Ministry, Indrani Kaushal, mentioned in her letter that the situation of cancer facilities was reviewed earlier by the ministry, and it was observed that the state of Assam has implemented a three-level cancer care model that can be adopted by other states. She further said a write-up on the cancer-care model in Assam was forwarded for perusal and implementation.

In the last few years, cancer care in the state has received a major boost, with the setting up of many state-of-the-art state cancer institutes and cancer care hospitals and centres. Taking cognizance of the cancer burden, the Assam government and Tata Trusts entered into a MoU in 2018 and are jointly creating a step-down cancer care model called the Distributed Cancer Care Model with a vision to create patient-centric cancer institutions to deliver standardized and affordable cancer care.

Joint secretary Vishal Chauhan, in his letter dated July 2022, said that a gap analysis was done by the ministry regarding the infrastructure for cancer treatment in the country. It is seen that in many of the states, cancer care facilities leave much to be desired, it stated. It was observed in the letter that the state of Assam has implemented a three-level cancer care model that can be adopted by other states.

 Also Read: Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma inaugurates new building of State Cancer Institute (sentinelassam.com)

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