KOCHI: The Cochin Cancer Research Centre (CCRC) facility situated on the Medical College campus is set for major expansion in view of the steady rise in the number of patients - it nearly doubled from 350 to 660 - during the past one year, District Collector and CCRC special officer K Mohammed Y Safeerulla said here on Friday. " The goal is to expand the clinical services, including the 24-hour in-patient facility, regular operations and addition of newer clinical specialities," he said in a statement here.
Within the existing building, a 20-bed in-patient service will be started and INKEL Ltd has been entrusted with the task of building the infrastructure. The in-patient facility will allow the CCRC to function round- the- clock. Additional staff nurses, nursing assistants and dietician will be soon appointed for the purpose.
The operation room which will be made available to the CCRC within the Medical College will soon function on a regular basis. It will take care of common malignancies such as head and neck, breast and gynaecological tumours. Specialised anaesthetists, theatre technicians, and nursing staff will be recruited for the purpose.
In addition to the existing cancer specialists, CCRC will be recruiting medical oncologist, hematologist and specialised surgical oncologist.Cancer diagnostic capacity will be expanded by operationalising the mammogram and ultrasound facility as well as the laboratory facility to include tumour marker analysis. Additional cancer specialised pathologist, biochemist and laboratory staff will be recruited, the Collector said.
To live up to the motto of 'People-centric cancer care', CCRC pain and palliative care has started an integrated home care service. Specialists in this field will soon join the CCRC."Although there have been major breakthroughs in the field of cancer treatment, access to affordable, quality cancer care is a major hurdle, which is a major problem in central Kerala. To address these issues in a comprehensive fashion, the Government of Kerala has made a bold step in conceiving CCRC, a next-generation cancer centre.
This will not only provide advanced, affordable and quality cancer treatment, but will also create an ecosystem to facilitate affordable innovations through systematic research, addressing unique cancer care issues of the country," Safeerulla said.The CCRC will also focus on down-staging cancer. "Measures will be taken to improve cancer literacy among the general public with the partnership of NGOs and train primary care physicians on early warning signs of cancer.