NCI to be equipped with tissue repository: Nadda

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coming up in Jhajjar will be equipped with top medical facilities, including a first-of-its-kind tissue repository, and plans are afoot for conducting research there on cancers which are more specific to India, Union Health Minister J P Nadda today said.
The NCI, said to be the largest tertiary healthcare facility proposed in the country since Independence, is being built in Haryana under the AIIMS at a cost of Rs 2,035 crore.
"The proposed institute (NCI) will have 710 beds for different facilities such as surgical oncology, radiation oncology, medical oncology, anaesthesia and palliative care, nuclear medicine and proton therapy.

"It will have a tissue repository which is the first-of-its-kind in India. The institute aims to plan, conduct and coordinate research on cancers which are more specific to India like tobacco-related cancers, cancer of the uterine cervix, gall bladder cancer and liver cancers," the Health Minister said.
The foundation stone for NCI was laid by Nadda in December last.
"The cancer institute will be modelled after the US' National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the government has already entered into an MoU with it during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the US in October 2014," he had said.

It is slated to be a premier institution for all cancer-related activities in the country and will have linkages with all regional and cancer centres.

Nadda was addressing a gathering on the Foundation Day of the AIIMS currently celebrating its diamond jubilee.
"AIIMS has always maintained the highest standards of meritocracy and learning. It has attracted the best talents across the country who enter this institute as young students and pass out with the intensity of commitment to serve the poorest of the poor," he said.
The minister, who is also the President of AIIMS, in his address, touched upon various projects rolled out by the Centre for its expansion and development.

It is the apex medical institution in the country. And, the government is "committed" to raising its stature up further, he said.
AIIMS Director Dr M C Misra, said, "In 60 years of its journey, AIIMS has grown in strength thanks to the sheer dedication of our former directors who shaped this institution."
In his address Nadda further said, "AIIMS not only has
established high reputation but has also contributed significantly in academic quality, student care, infrastructure, and placement opportunities.
"With its 9 centres and 52 teaching departments, and a manpower of over 10,000 including more than 800 faculty positions, AIIMS Delhi produces a large number of specialists (MD/MS), super-specialists (DM/MCh), PhD scholars and allied health and basic sciences experts, including nurses and paramedical professionals," he said.

In coming years, AIIMS is going to establish many more specialised centres like surgical block, geriatric centre, mother and child healthcare centre, and emergency block, he added.
Students not only from India but also from various other countries like the US, the UK, Australia, Germany and SAARC countries are visiting AIIMS to do elective training courses, he said, adding, courses are also administered to students from Maldives, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Mauritius.
Dr Rajendra Prasad Centre of Ophthalmic Sciences, Department of Paediatrics, Centre for Dental Education and Research and Centre for Community Medicine have been designated as WHO Collaborating Centre, the minister said.

Nearly 600 research projects have been conducted in the year and the institute has attracted extramural research grants of more than Rs 70 crores in frontier and cutting edge biomedical areas, Nadda said.
"An increasing number of foreigners are coming for treatment to AIIMS, mostly from South and South East Asia. This trend was particularly salient in the departments of neurosurgery, orthopaedics, oncology and surgery," he said.
The minister also outlined the expansion projects underway at AIIMS.
"The institute is in the process of expanding its Trauma Centre, Surgical Block, Mother and Child Block and OPD Block. The expansion will happen in phases and when completed, will almost double the hospital's capacity.

"The surgical block will also have a National Endoscopy Centre, a high-dependency unit and kidney transplant facilities. The Convergence Block, critical care units, and a new dharamshala have been built. These expansion plans would fulfil long-felt needs of the apex medical institution in the country," he said.
Besides, Dr Balram Airan, Dean (Academics) and professor of cardiothoracic and vascular surgery, delivered the first Golden Jubilee Oration on heart transplant.
Airan, credited with performing the first heart transplant in the country on August 3, 1994, said, "there are various challenges in this particular domain, and infrastructural logistical constraints that hasn't allowed heart transplantation to really go forward in India, especially in the public sector.