National Cardiovascular Centre (NCC) may come up soon at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) campus in Badsa here.
The institute has proposed to set up the centre in collaboration with the Haryana Government to address the long waiting time at AIIMS, Delhi.
“At present, there are just 240 beds, including private wards, in the Cardiovascular Department at AIIMS, Delhi. It has led to a long waiting time for the patients. Cardiovascular diseases are a leading cause of death, besides cancer and trauma in the country. Also, there is a need for research in this sector. Hence, AIIMS has come out with a proposal to set up a cardiovascular centre at Badsa,” said Shakti Gupta, Medical Superintendent, AIIMS Outreach OPD, Jhajjar.
An AIIMS Outreach Outdoor Patients Department is already running at Badsa, which is around 20 kilometre away from Gurgaon.
The proposal about the NCC has already been up before the Union Health Ministry, which is said to be positive about it.
The proposal was put up by AIIMS Director Mr. M. C. Mishra before Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar during his visit to AIIMS last month.
“The estimated cost of the project would be around Rs.3,000 crore,” said Mr. Gupta.
Mr. Gupta also disclosed that significant progress was made towards setting up of a proposed National Cancer Institute (NCI) at Badsa with the procurement of environmental clearance.
“The project was being delayed due to procurement of various clearances. The environmental clearance has now been procured and the progress was discussed with the Haryana Chief Secretary in a meeting at Chandigarh recently,” said Mr. Gupta.
The foundation stone for NCI, the lone such mega health project in the country, was laid by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at Bahadurgarh in January last year.
The Centre is expected to come up at a cost of about Rs.2,000 crore over the next three years.
“At present, AIIMS has just 200 beds for cancer patients leading to a long waiting time. Since in cancer cases, we cannot have long waiting time, the NCI was proposed. Initially, it will have 500 beds. The number of beds will later be increased to 1,000. It will be the biggest cancer centre in India,” said Mr. Gupta.
Of the 300-acre AIIMS campus at Badsa, 100 acres has been dedicated for residential purposes. Mr. Gupta also added that the ongoing Outreach OPD at the campus was a temporary arrangement and would be dismantled after the campus is fully developed.
