Free cancer treatment for villagers

Vinod Behl in New Delhi

Rural India's first ever cancer hospital is coming up in Gurgaon's Mirpur village, near New Delhi.

The specialist hospital aims at providing free cancer treatment to rural folk. As of now, the few cancer centres which the country has are all concentrated in urban areas, beyond the villager's reach -- both physically as well as financially.

The brain child of Dr S S Yadav, director of Rohtak's Post Medical Institute of Medical Sciences, the hospital is expected to start functioning next year. Initially, it will have 20 beds.

Governmental as well as non governmental agencies are being tapped for this philanthropic mission. The hospital will reflect the rural ambience in its architecture too -- instead of concrete structures it will have huts. "Cancer treatment being expensive, we will spend the majority of our funds on medicines rather than infrastructure. That way, it will be beneficial to more patients," says Dr Yadav.