J&K's First Tata Memorial Cancer Care Center Opened In Kathua

The Union Minister for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh on 24 September 2023 inaugurated Jammu and Kashmir's first state-of-the-art cancer care facility affiliated with Tata Memorial Center (TMC), Mumbai, in the new block of Government Medical College, Kathua.

Currently, due to increasing age, changing lifestyles, environmental factors, the prevalence of cancer is taking the form of an epidemic, and cancers of all nature and all organs are increasing everywhere.

• The controlling authority of Tata Memorial Center Mumbai is with the Department of Atomic Energy.

Why is it needed in Kathua?

• This facility developed in Kathua will be able to meet the needs of the areas of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh besides Jammu and Kashmir.
• The area lacks facilities like the Tata Memorial Center (TMC) Mumbai.
• The establishment of a day-care chemotherapy once-care unit at GMC Kathua will make cancer treatment accessible and affordable in the region.
• Disease-affected people from this area go to TMC, Mumbai which is quite inconvenient and quite expensive for the people of these areas.
• The Tata Satellite Cancer Care Facility in Kathua will prove to be a big boon for the region.

Other health facilities to be started in Kathua:

• Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, satellite hospitals and Tata Memorial Center facilities have been started in different parts of the country.
• Onco DM and MCh super specialty courses have also been started in Guwahati. This option can also be considered for Kathua.

Health Circuit in Jammu and Kashmir:

• The ‘Kathua-Udhampur-Doda’ parliamentary constituency of Jammu and Kashmir can become the future ‘health circuit’ of India with state-of-the-art health facilities like three medical colleges, AIIMS, and North India’s first biotech park.
• With the launch of an accessible and affordable cancer treatment in the Day-Care Chemotherapy (Onco-Care) Unit at GMC Kathua, affordable and accessible cancer treatment has started in the region.
• Union Minister Jitendra Singh inaugurated the urgent day-care chemotherapy unit, 300 LPM oxygen plant, and Maternal Intensive Care Unit at GMC Kathua.
• According to Union Minister Jitendra Singh, onco-care at GMC Kathua will be upgraded in the coming years as Onco DM and MCH seats will be provided and world-class cancer experts will be invited here for treatment, lectures and seminars.

India aims to achieve a $150 billion bio-economy by 2025:

• According to Union Minister Jitendra Singh, India played a leading role in the production of vaccines to prevent deadly diseases like 'CERVAC' for the treatment of various types of cancer as the field of biotechnology is growing rapidly in India.
• Now India has set a target of achieving a bio-economy of $150 billion by 2025, up from $100 billion in 2022.

Growing health facilities in India:

• According to Union Minister Jitendra Singh, affordable, accessible health care is the roadmap for 'Healthy India' under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• This is also evident from the fact that more than 260 new medical colleges have been established in the country.
• In the last nine years, MBBS seats have increased by 79 percent, PG seats by 93 percent and 22 AIIMS have been approved in the country.
• India has moved from a regional and fragmented approach to healthcare delivery to comprehensive need-based healthcare delivery and is now seen as a role model in crisis management and preventive healthcare.

Focus on 'Preventive Health Care for the first time in the country:

• For the first time in the country, the focus was on 'Preventive Health Care' due to which in just two years, India has been able to produce two DNA vaccines and one nasal vaccine.

Top 10 cancer hospitals in the country:

• Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai
• All India Institute of Medical Sciences, AIIMS New Delhi
• The Cancer Institute, Chennai
• Apollo Specialty Hospital, Chennai
• The Gujarat Cancer and Research Institute, Ahmedabad
• Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre, Delhi
• Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, Bengaluru
• Regional Cancer Centre, Thiruvananthapuram
• HCG, Bengaluru
• Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh