NEW DELHI: Health and Family Welfare Minister AL Hek has had talks with the functionaries and experts of Healthcare Global Enterprises Ltd (HCG) here for setting up a state-of-the-art cancer wing at Shillong Civil Hospital.
Hek was here to meet Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare JP Nadda on Monday and “the Centre assured all help once the state finalises the modalities”, Hek said before leaving New Delhi.
The minister will have another round of talks with the HCG experts in Bengaluru to explore the possibility of partnership with the Centre to run the cancer wing in Shillong.
The state government has not been able to operate the unit, construction of which began 10 years ago.
“The main issue discussed was how to handle the sophisticated cancer machines since the state does not have skilled manpower,” Hek said.
HCG is India’s largest provider of cancer care with a network of 20 comprehensive centres across India and abroad.
Once talks are finalised the state will sign an MoU with HCG.
Meghalaya has high number of cancer cases. As per the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) 2016-17, 47 per cent of all adults in Meghalaya either smoke tobacco or use smokeless tobacco whereas national average is 28.6 per cent.
