SSKM cancer-care hub may be up & running from March end

Kolkata: The Cancer Care Hub (CCH) at IPGMER & SSKM Hospital is set to take off at the new building by the end of March or the beginning of April, with radiation oncology services. Officials hope to get all clearances to operate the Linear Accelerator machines (LINAC) by the end of March. Two state-of-the-art LINAC machines were already installed and commissioned in the new G+10 building, where two floors are almost complete.This is the first time the govt is going to deploy advanced LINAC machines for cancer care in the govt sector.
"At present, radiation safety checks are going on so that the LINAC machines can be put into use for cancer patients. We are hopeful of getting the required permissions soon and starting partial service from the new building," said Manimoy Banerjee, director, IPGMER-SSKM Hospital.The CCH is chief minister Mamata Banerjee's ambitious project in collaboration with Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai. Construction on the G+10 building opposite the existing IPGMER campus on Harish Chatterjee Road is in full swing."We plan to start radiation oncology services by the end of March or the beginning of April. We also plan to shift the OPD services from the main campus," said radiation oncologist Alok Ghosh Dastidar, chairman of the steering committee overseeing the progress of the CCH.Once the whole building is complete, it will house facilities like onco-pathology, next-generation sequencing, immunohistochemistry, and PET-CT and MRI fusion facilities. At present, PET-CT facilities are available only in NRS Medical College in the govt sector. A new brachytherapy machine will also be installed in the CCH. "The CCH will have more than 350 beds. Besides day-care oncology, medical and surgical oncology, radiotherapy, and onco-pathology, there will also be a dedicated unit for palliative care for cancer patients, a facility so far not available elsewhere in the govt sector," Ghosh Dastidar added.At present, there are 60 beds for cancer care on the main campus while there are 40 beds at the Kolkata Police Hospital, catering mainly to paediatric oncology. Niladri Patra, radiation oncology head at IPGMER, said the department caters to 5,000-6,000 cancer patients annually. Once the CCH hub takes off on a full scale, the capacity will increase three-fold.In June 2021, the Bengal CM announced the tie-up with Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai, for this hub. Within three months, a steering committee was formed with members from the health department and Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai, and an MoU was signed.In addition to IPGMER doctors, honorary consultants who are alumni of Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH) and are now based in Kolkata are on the panel for the hub. The IPGMER team is also working closely with the TMH team on new techniques.