SHILLONG: The State Government is targeting to make the cancer wing in the premises of Shillong Civil Hospital (SCH) functional within this year.
Health and Family Welfare Minister, AL Hek along with senior officials of the department on Monday conducted an inspection of the upcoming cancer wing which has been delayed for long.
Speaking to media persons here after the inspection, Hek said that the building was 90 per cent complete and now the installation of the equipment would take around six to nine months.
Stating that the wing can be made functional within a year with the support of all the stakeholders, Hek added that electrification and plumbing work of the building had also been completed.
However, the finishing work of the building would be completed after the installation of the equipment.
During the inspection, it was also informed that a lift would be installed in the cancer wing besides the Minister also advised the officials to do landscaping at the entry of the cancer wing.
The cancer wing at Civil Hospital in the city has been hanging fire for over seven years now despite high prevalence of the disease in Meghalaya.
The construction of the wing started in 2011 with a funding of Rs 26 crore from the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India.
In 2015, a team from the Department of Atomic Energy had pulled up the state government for the delay and sophisticated equipment worth Rs 15 crore will be used to provide better medical facilities to patients.
Meanwhile, Hek also stressed on the need to install CCTV cameras in the entire Shillong Civil Hospital premises for security reasons.
When asked about the growing congestion in the existing Civil Hospital, the Minister added that necessary adjustments are being made in order to provide treatment to the patients despite the congestion in the Hospital.
