SHILLONG:
State Health and Family Welfare Minister James K Sangma has said that Meghalaya is facing acute shortage of specialist doctors that is affecting treatment of various diseases, especially cancer.
“The treatment of cancer is something which is not just about diagnostics but also about cure like radiation. So that is something which is very specific towards treatment and diagnosis of cancer,” Sangma said. He said that the state is looking to appoint more specialists like oncologists and surgeons.
Sangma said that the government is looking at how it can bridge that gap.
“There is no doubt there is a huge shortage of specialists that the state is facing and this is something that is on our priority list,” Sangma added.
In December last year, the High Court of Meghalaya had observed that it is absolutely imperative that cancer treatment in the state is augmented and a dedicated hospital for such purpose is set up.
The court made the observation while hearing a writ petition filed by advocate Lurshaprang Shongwan on the lack of a super-specialty cancer treatment centre in the state.
The affidavit filed by the petitioner, stated that the total number of patients suffering from cancer in the state may be above 80,000 and the cancer wing of the civil hospital in Shillong is equipped to admit only a few persons.
The affidavit filed by the government stated that the cancer wing at the Shillong Civil Hospital has started to function with 34 beds – 22 for males and 12 for females.
Meanwhile, on the issue of delay in the functioning of the cancer wing, Sangma informed that it was held up due to certain issues with the Department of Atomic Energy and some other related issues.
“…but we have been able to resolve most of them and now things are moving smoothly and I hope that we will be able to have it operationalised very soon,” he added.
The cancer wing will be equipped with the latest radiotherapy treatment facility and with machines like dual energy linear accelerator with treatment planning system, CT simulator and HDR brachytherapy.
The construction of the DAE-funded facility started in March 2011 at a cost of Rs 26 crore.