Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital to be commissioned in three years

It is a patient-centric hospital and not a commercial venture, says its director

The Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre being established by the Atomic Energy Commission at Aganampudi on city outskirts and which is expected to be commissioned in three years time will not only be a top class cancer treatment facility but also a research centre.

The Rs. 540-crore hospital is coming up on a 77-acre site allotted by the APIIC. OP services are being offered at present in the containers located on the site and diagnostic and clinical services of King George Hospital and Andhra Medical College will be used when needed, till the hospital is fully established. No fee will be charged at KGH or AMC from the patients sent by Homi Bhabha Hospital.

“It’s a patient-centric hospital and not a commercial venture. We will be able to treat any type of cancer. To start with we will have 100 beds and gradually increase it to 350. We start with clinical services, then provide training and education service to the doctors and nurses and take up basic and clinical research in the third phase. In three years we will start clinical services and from fourth year teaching service will be provided”, Director of the hospital and noted medical oncologist D. Raghurama Rao explained to The Hindu .

Incidentally all those recruited for the hospital here will be trained at the Mumbai hospital.

At present the OP patients are not being charged and as the hospital becomes functional the three-tier fee structure of free treatment, partial payment and full payment will be implemented.

Since the hospital is on the city outskirts and far away from the railway station, free bus service is being arranged for the patients. Along with the hospital a Dharmasala will also come up for the convenience of patients. Recruitment of doctors and other staff will be done later.

District Cancer Registry

The hospital will soon start preparing district cancer registry in which the local oncologists will also be involved, Dr. Raghurama Rao said. It will start with collecting data from urban area. The district cancer registry is beneficial in many ways.