Panjim: Health Minister Vishwajit Rane on Wednesday said the tie up between Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMC) oncology department and Manipal Hospital on public private partnership (PPP) model to provide effective cancer treatment to the patients visiting the State-run hospital.
He also said the government will soon be laying the foundation stone for Rs 100 crore tertiary cancer centre at GMC, which would be constructed by HSSC (Hospital Services Consultancy Corporation).
Addressing the gathering at the launch of advanced and first-of-its-kind radiation treatment machine at Manipal Hospital Goa, Rane said that cancer is one of the diseases which is rising in Goa at high rate owing to various reasons including lifestyle.
“We will tie up with Manipal Hospital as we don’t have a full-fledged cancer related facility, besides Dr Anupama Borkar who is running the OPD. We will tie up with the hospital, have their doctors posted in GMC oncology OPD on day to day basis and they will also provide us with all other expertise,” Minister said.
He said that PPP model will be adopted with a basic focus on to ensure that the cancer patients don’t have to travel out of Goa to get the treatment. “Let me make it clear first itself, that there is no hidden agenda here. We have to promote public private partnerships to strengthen government run hospitals,” Rane stated.
He said that the government policy is very clear that we need to strengthen health sector with help of private players. “We are here to create infrastructure and it is easy to do so but what is important is to make it run and continue to run smoothly,” Minister commented.
Meanwhile, in an effort to strengthen fight against non-communicable diseases like Cancer, Manipal Hospitals Goa unveiled the most advanced and first-of-its-kind radiation treatment machine called Elekta Versa HD Linear Accelerator (LINAC) during the launch of Manipal Comprehensive Oncology Centre.
Speaking on the occasion, Chairman Manipal Education and Medical Group (MEMG) Dr. Ranjan Pai said that with the alarming speed at which cancer has spread across the nation, there is a need to educate people about the importance of its early screening to ensure control and treatment at the earliest. “In order for the same, the state-of-the-art technologies like Elekta Versa HD Linear Accelerator play a vital role in cancer treatments. In fact, technology is a game changer and we are seeing waves made by technology in healthcare, which is the way forward,” he said.
Emphasizing on the need for LINAC, Chairman, Manipal Health Enterprises Private Limited Dr. Sudarshan Ballal, said that the Manipal Comprehensive Oncology Centre will act as a one stop destination for all the patients seeking any type of treatment related to any kind of cancer. Moreover, the future of radiotherapy for treating cancer lies in more personalized treatment and Elekta Versa HD Linear Accelerator will enable us to do that.
