Holy Spirit Hospital, Mumbai has opened a cancer treatment centre in its premises. This centre is the first centre to offer radiotherapy in North Mumbai. Suresh Shetty, State Public Health and Family Welfare, Environment Protocol, Sports and Youth Welfare minister for Maharashtra, formally inaugurated the cancer centre.
The Holy Spirit Cancer Centre is the culmination of a long awaited dream, which was envisioned with an aim to provide cancer treatment at an affordable cost. More than 70 per cent of the patients of the hospital come from weaker socio-economic backgrounds and are treated at a concessional rate by the hospital while 10 per cent of the patients are treated free. This cancer centre will be able to reduce the load on other hospitals in south and central Mumbai.
The project was initiated in the year 2002, when its estimated cost was Rs 12 crore but now the project cost has reached Rs 18 crore. Funds were raised from various individual donors, industrialists, Indian and international NGOs and various associations. The first individual donor for this centre is Bapuji Gupta who gave Rs 50 lakh
Speaking at the launch, Suresh Shetty said, “This is truly a landmark event in the city since such centres for advanced treatment of cancer are every few even in a metropolis like Mumbai. I am truly appreciative of the fact that the Cancer Centre at Holy Spirit Hospital will cater to a long-felt need of a large population residing in the far-off suburbs of Mumbai and also those coming from interior of Maharashtra, seeking world-class treatment facility for cancer at subsidized charges. I congratulate Holy Spirit Hospital for their commendable effort to have created this facility to treat the most dreaded of diseases of modern times – cancer, and wish them every success for similar such projects for the benefit of the population at large. ”
Elaborating on their latest venture, Dr MB Shah, medical director, Holy Spirit Hospital said, “I have seen that Mumbai does not have sufficient medical infrastructure to cope up with the volume of cancer patients in the city. The problem gets compounded when one considers the fact that people in surrounding areas also rely on the hospital facilities in Mumbai when it comes to cancer treatment. With the number of cancer patients increasing, we have to ensure that hospitals are equipped to deal with these diseases.”
Sister Lissy, executive director, Holy Spirit Hospital adds, “Radiotherapy is one of the effective modalities of cancer treatment, and by initiating a separate centre for the same, we have ensured that the latest technology is available to all our patients.”
Vinod Vincent, assistant medical director, Holy Spirit Hospital informed, “We are already treating cancer patients in our hospital. Radiotherapy is an additional facility we would be offering now onwards. Around 70 patients can be treated in this centre in a day. The centre is expected to be functional in a month's time.” The hospital next plans to add cath lab facility, he said.
Through this cancer centre, the hospital will offer all the major modalities of cancer management including radiotherapy, medical oncology (chemotherapy), onco-surgery and haematology. It also has well equipped diagnostic facilities and pathology laboratories to support the cancer centre.
The cancer centre boasts of the latest radiotherapy facilities like Image-Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT), 3-Dimensional Conformal Radiation Therapy (3-DCRT), Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT), Stereotactic Radiotherapy / Radiosurgery (SRT / RS) (Intra-cranial / extra-cranial), Brachytherapy Facility, Palliative care, Medical Oncology, Surgical oncology and Haematology – to ensure that cancer patients get all forms of medical care at one place.