Bengaluru: Cancer treatment Centres will be established in five districts including Mysuru to provide treatment to patients in their own districts. The other districts are Ballari, Shivamogga, Bengaluru and Hubballi. These Centres will be managed by Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology (KMIO), Bengaluru, a Regional Cancer Centre. It is a recognised exclusive tertiary Cancer care Centre. 

Speaking to reporters after paying surprise visits to Government Hospitals in Bengaluru yesterday, Deputy CM and Medical Education Minister Dr. C.N. Ashwath Narayan said that it may not be possible for people from rural areas to come to cities for cancer treatment and as such, the Government is establishing five such Centres in districts. 

On handing over the responsibility of maintaining the centres to Kidwai Memorial Institute, the Minister said that the Institute offers world-class treatment to all sections of the society and is best suited to manage the district Cancer care Centres. 

The Government also plans to set up four Geriatric Centres at Bangalore Medical College, Mysore Medical College, Vijayanagar Medical College, and the Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences (Hubballi), owing to the increase in the longevity of life.

The Cancer care Centres are proposed at a cost of Rs. 40 crore. “The Cancer care Centre would come up in Shivamogga with an investment of Rs. 50 crore,” the Minister said. A simulation lab along the lines of the one at Bangalore Medical College is proposed to be set up in all medical colleges at a cost of Rs. 5 crore. 

 He said that ahead of the State Budget, the Medical Education Department has sought six new medical colleges in the State among other new infrastructure. The Department has prepared a proposal amounting to Rs. 300 crore for investment in medical infrastructure and the upgrading of facilities which would make Government hospitals eligible for accreditation by National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH) and National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NACL), he said.