The Departments of Atomic Energy and Biotechnology will sign a memorandum of understanding next week for the takeover of the Bhopal Memorial Trust Hospital for the victims of the 1984 gas tragedy.
Indicating this, Union Science and Technology Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Tuesday said the takeover would help in providing better health care to the victims.
“The DAE would bring in its expertise in the treatment of and research on cancer, while the DBT would bring in its experience in the area of clinical research on cancer as well as other diseases,” he said on the sidelines of a ceremony to mark the signing of an agreement between the two departments to institutionalise their collaborative research over a wide range of areas. These include stem cell biology and regenerative medicine, biomedical technology, agricultural biotechnology, artificial photosynthesis and biosensors.
DAE Secretary Srikumar Banerjee said the hospital in Bhopal would be part of the department's programme to set up a cancer grid for patients across the country who found it difficult to visit the Tata Memorial Hospital, run by it in Mumbai, often for regular check-up.
