GUNTUR: Following the overwhelming response from the cancer patients, the officials of the NATCO Cancer Care Centre, located in the Guntur Government General Hospital premises, are chalking out plans to extend services by bringing in advanced equipment and improving necessary infrastructure to cater the needs of growing patients.
It may be noted that the State government has recently announced the facility as Level-1 Cancer Centre and also allotted 35,000 sq.ft land beside the existing institute to NATCO Trust for construction of an additional block, thereby increasing total bed count to 200 from 110. The government is planning to develop the facility as the State Cancer Institute.
Additionally, a PET-CT scan worth Rs 18 crore will be procured for the benefit of the patients. The officials have already made an order. PET-CT scan (Positron emission tomography-computed tomography) is a nuclear medicine imaging test that is important for diagnosing, staging, treatment planning, treatment monitoring, prognosis, radiation therapy planning and detecting lymph node diseases in cancer patients.
With its addition, the Guntur GGH will become the first government hospital in the State to offer these services. The 1.6-acre NATCO Cancer Care Centre boasts advanced medical equipment such as Varian Vitalbeam Linear Accelerator worth Rs 12 crore, BrachyTherapy, and CT Stimulator worth Rs 5 crore, a mammography machine worth Rs 2 crore.
The facility has become a one-stop solution for free cancer treatment and the centre offers services in the domains of radiation, medical and surgical oncology, nuclear medicine, and radiotherapy. It has over 25 oncology professors, assistant doctors, and junior assistant doctors providing super-specialty treatment to the patients.