Chandigarh, August 2
Two of the country’s five proposed specialised cancer treatment hospitals will some up at Jhajjar and Karnal in Haryana.

The first National Cancer Institute (NCI) will come up on the premises of Phase II of the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) at Bhadsa in Jhajjar. Karnal will get the North Zone Hospital for treatment up to tertiary level among the four National Zonal Cancer Hospitals to be set up.

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who was lobbying for setting up two cancer hospitals in the state, has been conveyed the Centre’s decision to locate the National Cancer Institute at Bhadsa. It will be part of Phase II of AIIMS that is being set up at a cost of Rs 1,800 crore. The approved proposal is ready for sending to the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) in the Union Finance Ministry for sanction.

“North Indian states have seen a rapid increase in cases of cancer in the recent years. We are trying to separate the plan of the cancer institute from AIIMS Phase II so that it can be built faster. We are exploring ways to speed up setting up of the National Cancer Institute,” he said.

Apart from getting the national and zonal cancer treatment centres, Haryana has also sent a proposal under a new Centrally-sponsored scheme to seek funds to the tune of Rs 120 crore (which includes 25 per cent state share) for setting up a cancer treatment facility at PGIMS, Rohtak.

The state has also sought Rs 45 crore each for cancer facilities at Mewat Medical College and Kalpna Chawla Medical College, Karnal. The modalities were being worked out and it is proposed that the North Zone Cancer Centre would be part of the Karnal medical college.

Hooda said he had asked Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad for a second Post Graduate Institute (PGI) in Haryana for Panchkula, after Rohtak. For this, the state government was willing to give land.

Rohtak MP Deepinder Hooda has been tasked with pursuing the Expenditure Finance Committee’s clearance of the National Cancer Hospital.

The Haryana Government proposes to lay the stone of the hospital in December 2013. Azad is expected to visit Haryana towards the end of this month and Hooda is expected to take up the issue with him.

In contrast, neighbouring Punjab sanctioned Rs 300 crore earlier this month for setting up cancer detection and treatment units as part of a special drive to build infrastructure after it found rampant prevalence of cancer during a mapping exercise. Punjab’s cancer units will come up in three government hospitals at Amritsar, Faridkot and Patiala. Punjab is also setting up another cancer unit at the Sangrur Civil Hospital in collaboration with Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai, at a cost of Rs 5 crore, he said.