Narayana Hrudayalaya has commissioned a comprehensive cancer care facility namely Mazumdar- Shaw Cancer Centre within the Health City campus. The centre is named after Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, CMD of Biocon.

No specific details of the investment and equity stake held by the two partners were disclosed. While a standalone facility of similar size and capacity would cost Rs 300 crore, Narayana Hrudayalaya has been able to build the infrastructure of the facility at a much cheaper cost. Constructed over an area of 5 lakh sq ft facility, the 1500-bed Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Centre is the world's largest cancer hospital with a particular focus on head and neck cancer, breast cancer and cervical cancer. The hospital has a team of medical experts drawn from renowned universities including Cornell, stated Dr Devi Prasad Shetty, chairman, Narayana Hrudayalaya.

"In India, cancer accounts for the second most fatal disease after cardiovascular disorders. It is redetected at a late stage which increases the mortality and the treatment is extremely expensive. However, the hospital will address the economies of scale to ensure immediate, effective and, affordable treatment to every patient," he added.

The hospital has worked out costs of treatment to be lower than the government hospitals which provide cancer care. Patients from lower socio economic strata will be offered treatment free of cost or at a lower rate. This is possible only because of 1500 bed capacity and 5,000 cases accessing every day for treatment. Since Narayana Hrudayalaya is a multi specialty centre with ophthalmic, orthopaedics and cardiac care sharing a common facility, the economies of scale can be brought down. It is easier to offer care at subsidized costs in cancer because the bulk of the investments go into setting up of the infrastructure, stated Dr Shetty.

The existing facility to treat cancer is not adequate to combat the disease with the changing lifestyle of people in India. A much more comprehensive, research based treatment protocol is required to strike a balance between making medical assistance available to those in need and developing an effective and hassle-free cancer treatment. The concept of early detection drives cheaper treatment cost and faster recovery, stated Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw.

The hospital has a specialized team with focused approach at specific body regions which identifies individual characteristics of cancers. Every cancer patient who visits the Mazumdar-Shaw Cancer Centre for treatment is not subject to an individual's decision but that of a 'Tumour-Board', a multidisciplinary dedicated team for each region of the body. The hospital has also embarked on a comprehensive strategy to reach out to the masses. The ongoing cancer screening camp at the Health City campus is the first of the many camps that the hospital is planning to duplicate across all districts in Karnataka, stated Dr Paul Salins, medical director, Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Centre.