Tata memorial opens another unit

Radiotherapy unit to open at Chiplun to ease off pressure from Parel hospital THE Tata Memorial Centre (TMC) on Saturday, February 7, unveiled a new radiotherapy unit at Dervan, Chiplun. This will ease the load on the Parel centre and cancer patients can now expect to get treatment faster.u00a0Of the 25,000 cancer patients who visit the Parel centre every year, just a third (approximately 8,000) are from Mumbai and Maharashtra. In addition, there are those who come for preventive check ups or are referred by other hospitals. This brings the number of incoming patients up to nearly half a lakh. Their waiting time? Anywhere from one week to two months or more. TMC director Dr Rajendra Badwe says, More radiotherapy units in the state will help patients who have to travel long distances for treatment and find it expensive to stay for such long periods in Mumbai. Waiting time for local patients will go down as well. Of the cases that come to Tata Memorial, tobacco-related cancer, breast and uterine cervical cancer form two thirds of the burden. The former is particularly a problem in rural Maharashtra where the team hopes to reach out to 15 lakh people in the next five years.u00a0