Budget proposal for 200 cancer care centres not enough: skilled oncologists, nurses and equipment needed, say experts

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. A key announcement in the Union budget presented on Saturday was the establishment of 200 cancer daycare centres in district hospitals in 2025-26. While these would serve to decentralize cancer care, experts expressed concern over the absence of enough skilled medicos to run them amid growing incidence of the cancers.

The government aims to add cancer daycare centres to all district hospitals in the next three years. There are currently 759 district hospitals in the country. “Cancer is not a disease of convenience…we call it precision medicine," said Dr B.S.

Ajaikumar, founder and executive chairman of cancer care chain HealthCare Global Enterprises (HCG). Raising concerns over whether government and district hospitals are equipped to run these centres, he said, “How will they run these centres…do we have the skilled talent to run them?" At the same time, the growing incidence cancer in the country makes it important to make cancer drugs and care more accessible and affordable. These centres are aimed at reaching patients beyond tier-I cities and reduce the care burden on the small number of hospitals that offer affordable cancer care.

But they will need skilled staff—doctors, nurses and technicians—to run them. Additionally, the overall ecosystem, from detection to providing different forms of treatment, needs to be bolstered. “Cancer is a growing health problem and the way we are positioned as far as the population status is concerned, in the coming years, the cancer care problem is going to increase manifold," said Dr Raj Nagarkar, MD and chief of surgical oncology and robotic services at HCG Manavata Cancer Centre in Nashik, Maharashtra.