One person’s suffering could lead to another’s relief. Shattered by the deaths of their dear ones to cancer, two friends from Nagpur—one a politician and the other a social worker-educationist—envisaged a project that many thought wouldn’t be easy to set up for want of resources. However, the duo pulled it off  through sheer willpower, overcoming every difficulty as they took the project ahead.

Today, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) stands tall in Nagpur—full-fledged and fully equipped—catering to the rising number of cancer patients from central India, who otherwise would have to travel to Mumbai’s Tata Memorial Hospital. Even while under construction, the greenfield NCI had started serving patients five years ago through its first phase. It is now the first cancer hospital in central India to have over 450 beds. It is the only cancer hospital in central India with a paediatric ward and oncology ICU. Plans are afoot to provide advanced facilities like proton beam and carbon ion therapy treatment at cost-effective rates. NCI will also increase its bed capacity to 750, to make it the largest cancer facility in the country to be run by a charitable trust.