Shimla, Aug 5 : Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu announced on Monday that free of cost treatment and medicines would be provided to cancer patients in the state.



The government will provide 42 medicines free of cost to cancer patients in government hospitals and these medicines have been included in the state's essential medicine list.



Presiding over the first meeting of the State Advisory Board on Cancer and Palliative Care Program here, Sukhu said the highest number of cancer cases have been reported in the northeastern states. He said Himachal Pradesh has come second in the country in cancer cases, a matter of concern.



'This revolutionary decision has been taken to provide relief to cancer patients. This facility will be provided in various government hospitals,' stated the Chief Minister.



These free-of-cost medicines also include the Trastuzumab vaccine used for cancer treatment, which costs about Rs 40,000. A breast cancer patient needs 18 such vaccines in a year for treatment. To provide this vaccine, the government will spend about Rs 7 lakh on each patient. These medicines will be made available at the doorstep of the people in government hospitals.



Sukhu also approved Rs 300 crore to strengthen cancer treatment facilities in the state. The government would provide Rs 75 crore for developing the infrastructure of the centre of excellence in Cancer Care in Hamirpur. Another Rs 75 crore for a bone marrow transplant facility in Chamiyana in Shimla and Rs 150 crore for providing world-class cancer treatment equipment in the Centre of Excellence in Hamirpur.



The Chief Minister said in the first phase cancer daycare centres have been set up in 13 hospitals. In the second phase, these centres will be set up in 27 high-load civil hospitals and community health centres. In the third phase, cancer daycare centres will be set up in 28 institutions.



/IANS