Anantnag, Oct 17: Around 3,000 cancer patients have registered with Government Medical College (GMC) Anantnag’s Radiation Oncology Department since 2019, including 800 this year, but patients who need radiotherapy still have to travel to Srinagar for treatment.
The department provides only chemotherapy and palliative care from a cramped, makeshift space inside the hospital.
A dedicated two-storey oncology block is under construction, but it cannot offer radiotherapy without specialised equipment.
“GMC Anantnag has already submitted a proposal worth Rs 40 crore to the government for the required equipment. We hope to shift to the new block by March next year, but the department can become fully functional only when the necessary equipment is available,” said DrShahid Bashir Wani, head of the Radiation Oncology Department.
The proposal includes a linear accelerator for radiation treatment, a CT simulator for radiotherapy planning, a PET scanner and other equipment required to expand cancer care.
The equipment cost is separate from the building expenditure.
Rs 5 crore has been sanctioned under the CAPEX budget for the block, construction of which has been underway for about a year.
Syed Ishfaq Ahmad, Superintendent Engineer of the Roads and Buildings (R&B) Department, said the building would take another six months to complete.
“It will take another six months to complete the building, after which it will be handed over to GMC Anantnag authorities,” he said.
DrWani said that even after construction, radiotherapy services will depend on procuring, installing, and commissioning the equipment.
For now, patients from Anantnag, Kulgam, Pulwama and Shopian, as well as parts of the Chenab Valley and PirPanjal region, must travel to Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital (SMHS) or Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Soura, in Srinagar.
“Radiotherapy often requires treatment five days a week for four to five weeks, making repeated journeys costly and physically exhausting,” a medic said.
He said the burden was difficult for some patients to sustain.
Medical experts estimate that 60% to 65% of cancer patients require radiotherapy at some stage.
Meanwhile, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has recently allocated Rs 2 crore to GMC Anantnag for two breast cancer projects. The college is among four medical colleges in Jammu and Kashmir selected for the initiative.
One project focuses on early detection through screening, while the other will assess whether standardised treatment, coordinated care and timely follow-up can improve survival.
Under this, GMC Anantnag and GMC Baramulla will be linked with SKIMS, Soura, through a hub-and-spoke model to coordinate treatment and follow-up.
The projects aim to strengthen breast cancer screening and care, but radiotherapy remains unavailable at GMC Anantnag.
Until the required equipment is installed and commissioned, patients will continue to travel to Srinagar for treatment.
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