MODEL CANCER CONTROL PROGRAM
A comprehensive cancer control program in the backward Ratnagiri and
Sindhudurg districts of Maharashtra has been started by The Tata
Memorial Hospital. This program proposes to cover the eligible
population of these districts with two rounds of screening for oral,
cervix and breast cancers at two-year intervals.
Trained primary health care workers will perform screening. The
treatment of the screened positive cases will be carried out locally at
an NGO Hospital at Chiplun in Ratnagiri, the BKL Walavalkar Hospital.
This program, which was started in August 2003, is an ‘Xth-plan Project’
of the Department of Atomic Energy that will be completed by March 2007
and is expected to form a model for district cancer control programs in
the country.[4]