Nair was only one in city offering this treatment; officials plan to buy equipment worth crores for facility
Around 40 to 50 cancer patients will benefit from the centre, which will be housed in a 12-storey building. File photo
Soon, radiation therapy will be available at the civic-run Sion hospital. The hospital is also working on a proposal to buy machines that will cost crores of rupees in order to treat needy cancer patients.
According to officials, thousands of patients will benefit from the service annually.
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The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) announced in March the construction of a separate building in Sion hospital where cancer care will be provided to Mumbaikars. The civic body made a similar announcement regarding Nair hospital, in 2019.
At present, the Sion hospital has a chemotherapy facility, which sees about 100 outpatients every week.
According to Sion hospital officials, a tender will be floated for the construction of the building in the next two weeks. The hospital is also preparing a proposal to buy the required equipment. According to a source, about R60 crore will be spent on this project.
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Speaking to mid-day, Dr Vidya Mahale, deputy dean of Sion hospital, said, “The price of the machinery will be a few crores. Every day, around 40-50 cancer patients benefit from this service.”
An official from Sion hospital, who did not wish to be named, said, “Nair hospital was the only civic hospital that was providing radiotherapy for the past 25 years. The machine, as well as the building, was old and had to be replaced. A new one will be set up soon. We are going to buy two radiotherapy machines. One will be a Cobalt-60 therapy unit and the other will be a brachytherapy unit. Head and neck cancer, cervical cancer and brain tumours can be treated with this machinery.”
He added that a 12-storey building will be set up, in which the basement and three floors will be dedicated to cancer treatment. “In the basement, there will be a radiation therapy centre while there will be OPD on the first floor, an IPD (inpatient department) on the second floor and an operation theatre on the third floor,” the official said.
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Estimated cost of the project in crore rupees
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