UK trust to build two cancer hospitals in state
Roko Cancer, a charitable trust based in the United Kingdom, will install a mammography machine each at Guru Kashi University in Talwandi Sabbo, Babeke Hospital in Daudhar (Moga), and the Majitha Civil Hospital (Amritsar).
Roko Cancer, a charitable trust based in the United Kingdom, will install a mammography machine each at Guru Kashi University in Talwandi Sabbo, Babeke Hospital in Daudhar (Moga), and the Majitha Civil Hospital (Amritsar).
Each machine is worth Rs 1.50 crore. The trust is also building a 500-bed cancer hospital each in Moga and Ferozepur, and will campaign all over Punjab for the prevention, detection and treatment of the disease.
"The trust will focus on early detection of cancer and inaugurate 500-bed cancer hospitals in Moga and Ferozepur on April 11," Kulwant Singh Dhaliwal, global ambassador of the trust, said here on Friday.
In 1, 379 camps conducted by Roko Cancer in Punjab in the past two years, the organisation has found that 2,467 women had their breasts amputated at the first stage of the disease. "The board of directors of Roko Cancer has decided to open five awareness centres in Punjab after looking at an alarming survey report of the Punjab government," said Dhaliwal. “The report suggests that every day in Punjab, 18 people died of cancer; while 87,000 suspected cases have come to light, and 23,000 people are under treatment at the moment."
The global ambassador of Roko Cancer alleged that the Punjab government had done the survey to find out the cancer patients but not arranged for the treatment of poor patients. “Experts estimate that 40% of the cancers can be prevented, if detected early," he added. "Breast cancer kills 40,000 women a year and the common surgical treatment, mastectomy (removal of the breasts) is dreaded the most. The alternative, lumpectomy (breast-conserving surgery) cuts out only a small part of the tissue and the reduction is often barely noticeable,” he said.
The board has also issued a report about cancer growth rate. “It foresees 1.5 crore cases in the world by 2020.