NEW DELHI, June 8: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh announced here today the Cabinet approval for Guwahati Cancer Institute and said that the Union Cabinet, which met this morning under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gave its endorsement to the tripartite MoU signed between the North Eastern Council (NEC), the State Government of Assam and the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India, wherein the noted Dr. Barooah Cancer Institute in Guwahati will hereafter function under the aegis of the Department of Atomic Energy with support and expertise from Tata Memorial Cancer Centre, Mumbai.
Elaborating further, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the approximate non-recurring expenditure for strengthening of the Institute is estimated at Rs.150 crore and the annual recurring expenditure is estimated at Rs. 45 to 50 crore. Established in 1974 by a voluntary organization and then taken over by the Government of Assam in 1986, the Institute and the attached Hospital will now have the privilege of working with the same facilities and academic set up as the Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai, he said. The Institute has also become the first-ever medical teaching centre in the Northeast to have started super-specialty cancer courses in MCh (Onco-Surgery) and DM (Onco-Medicine), he added.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, a distinct feature of the three years of Modi Government is that it has given a much awaited and much needed impetus to the healthcare services, not only in North Eastern region, but in the whole of East India. Within the last two years, he said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has himself laid the foundation stone for AIIMS at Guwahati, Bhubaneshwar and Gorakhpur respectively.
In addition, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the remote State of Mizoram will have a Regional Institute of Paramedical and Nursing Sciences (RIPANS) for which Rs. 481.22 crore have been approved. Similarly, the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS) at Shillong has been provided Rs. 363.98 crore for further expansion while the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) at Imphal, Manipur has been sanctioned Rs. 189 crore to upgrade it at par with AIIMS.
In response to a question, Dr Jitendra Singh informed that the Ministry of DoNER has initiated a major exercise to engage in PPP (Public Private Partnership) model for expansion of specialized healthcare services up to the district level. Some of the leading healthcare corporate sectors and other agencies have offered to be a part of this model, he said.
