The sixth anniversary of the Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (HBCH & RC), was celebrated at the hospital premises at Aganampudi here on Tuesday.
HBCH & RC, a unit of Tata Memorial Centre, under the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India, was started as a temporary facility on June 2, 2014, and is operational at its 70-acre sprawling campus.
A pilot ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) project to provide online training to nurses in cancer screening and prevention, in collaboration with ICMR – NICPR, New Delhi, was launched on Tuesday to commemorate the foundation day. This is aimed at training different levels of health workers especially at the peripheral health care units for early detection of cancer. This kind of workforce multiplication will eventually help detect cancers at an early stage, where chances of cure are higher.
The objective of the cancer centre is to offer affordable, evidence-based, quality cancer care services at the doorstep of people in this region so that they need not travel long distances. The founding Director Raghunadharao Digumarti initiated the basic clinics, diagnostic services, daycare, chemotherapy services, palliative care, etc. at the main campus and surgical/ICU services at Golden Jubilee Port Hospital of Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT).
The hospital building consisting of the RT block and the main block with all the state-of-the-art facilities is still under construction with 90% completion till date and is expected to be commissioned soon. The RT block consisting of Radiation Oncology, Radiology and Nuclear Medicine Services was inaugurated in November, 2019. Apart from diagnostic CT imaging, the Radiation Oncology services including CT Simulator, Bhabhatron (make-in-India Cobalt therapy Unit) and state-of-the-art Linear Accelerators are operational. Other facilities like Dharmashala, Nursing and Doctor’s hostel and Patient Registration blocks have also been commissioned recently.
