Vice Prez Venkaiah Naidu inaugurates NE's first ever PET-MRI wing at GMCH

GUWAHATI: Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu has inaugurated Northeast India's first ever PET-MRI wing at the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital in Guwahati today.

Naidu is in a three-day tour to Assam and Meghalaya.

"Honoured to have Hon VP Sri M Venkaiah Nadu inaugurate NE’s first-of-its-kind PET-MRI Wing at State Cancer Institute, GMCH. The Rs 62 cr project is equipped with ‘Time of Flight’ tech; will augment cancer treatment in NorthEast," said Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

This Rs 62 crore set up is the fourth to be installed at a government hospital in the country. The machine works faster than PET-CT and is essential for advanced cancer research activities.

CM Sarma said the state government was implementing a Distributed Cancer Care Model through the Assam Cancer Care Foundation for providing timely and effective treatment to cancer patients.

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“As Assam reports nearly 52,000 new cancer cases every year, the state government signed an MoU in 2018 with Tata Trusts for setting up cancer hospitals where equipment is provided by Tata Trusts and civil construction is done by the state government,” Sarma said.

Under the Distributed Cancer Care Model, 18 cancer hospitals will be built across the state to create patient-centric cancer institutions that will provide standardised and affordable cancer care closer to patients' homes, reducing out-of-pocket expenses for cancer patients by eliminating the need for them to travel outside of the state for treatment.

He said construction of the hospitals would be completed by March next year. He also said that free cancer treatment was being provided to the poor and underprivileged by cashing in on the Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat and Atal Amrit Abhiyan schemes which cover almost 92% of such patients.

The Mahabahu Brahmaputra River Heritage Centre was also inaugurated by Naidu.

The government has renovated the ancient Deputy Commissioner's (read District Magistrate's) home beside the Brahmaputra River into the Brahmaputra River Heritage Centre.

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