SHILLONG: The Health Department will float an expression of interest (EoI) to get more bidders to start the civil hospital cancer unit.
However, the new decision is contrary to the government’s earlier plan to award the work to Healthcare Global Enterprises Ltd (HCG) based in Bengaluru.
Health Minister AL Hek had met the HCG team several times in this regard.
Health Secretary Pravin Bakshi said since the government has to follow certain specifications, the department will float the EoI and those who will be qualified, can take up the work.
Since the building is ready, the task to be entrusted to the qualified bidder will be to provide manpower, including specialist doctors and equipment.
Sophisticated equipment worth Rs 15 crore will be used to provide better medical facilities to the cancer patients.
Electrical and plumbing works will start at the cancer centre once the equipment arrive.
An official said the building is 90 per cent complete but installation of the equipment would take at least eight months.
The government is also planning to install an elevator, besides landscaping the entrance.
Earlier, after the inspection of the building last April, the health minister had said the cancer wing would be functional within a few months.
The construction of the cancer wing began in 2011 at a cost of over Rs 26 crore which was sanctioned in 2008 by the Department of Atomic Energy.
Later in 2015, a team from the Department of Atomic Energy had expressed concern over the undue delay in the construction of the building.
The civil hospital currently treats several cancer patients from the North East and it is often overcrowded.
From 2010 till 2018, the cancer department of the civil hospital treated over 9,000 patients with the help of the cobalt machine installed at the department.
Once the cancer wing is functional, this will take care of the needs of the cancer patients, including government servants, who otherwise seek treatment outside the state.