KIMS in Hubballi to have Regional Cancer Centre

Hubballi: The Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) hospital in the City, which gets the highest number of cancer patients after Bengaluru’s Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology (KMIO), is all poised to get a Regional Cancer Centre (RCC) to help patients from North Karnataka region.

Medical Education Minister Sharanprakash Patil stated in the Assembly Session, at the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi on Thursday, that the RCC, which was sanctioned to Hubballi earlier, was shifted to Belagavi by the previous government. Now, he said, he would send a proposal to the Finance Department to set up a RCC at KIMS.

During the question hour at the Assembly Session on Thursday, Hubballi-Dharwad Central MLA Mahesh Tenginkai raised the issue and said, there is need for the RCC to treat blood, bone, and other cancer cases at KIMS.

Tenginkai was also supported by Deputy Speaker Rudrappa Lamani, MLAs Arvind Bellad and N H Konaraddi, and others. Even Speaker U T Khadar also stressed the need for the RCC at Hubballi and Mangaluru.

Replying to the issue, Minister Patil said, he will send a proposal to the Finance Department to set up the RCC at KIMS.

‘Better to upgrade existing dept’

Meanwhile, speaking to DH in Hubballi, KIMS Medical Superintendent Arunkumar C said, they are getting cancer patients from 8-10 districts of North Karnataka, and KIMS gets the second highest cancer patients among government institutes after KMIO.

“We have a separate established Oncology Department of 40 beds, and also have superspecialists in the department. We have a radiotherapist, oncology surgeon, medical oncologist, and gynecologic oncologist too. We get 50-60 radiotherapy patients on a daily basis, 10-15 patients at medical oncology, and we are doing 3-5 surgeries on a daily basis,” he said.

Arunkumar said, however, instead of setting up a separate hospital, it is better to upgrade the existing Oncology Department.

KIMS gets around 2,500 patients everyday, and it is one of the best government hospitals in the State. If the existing Oncology Department is upgraded to a RCC, it will be of great help for the cancer patients from the region, he added.

Following lifestyle, food culture, increasing life expectancy, and other reasons, cancer cases are increasing these days. It is expected that the number of cancer cases in the state will increase further. As a result, KIMS has been getting more cancer patients from various districts too.

More cancer cases

KIMS Surgical Oncologist Shashidhar K told DH that comparatively, they are getting more number of cancer cases in the last couple of years than before. They are getting more oral cancer cases In this region as the people here have a habit of chewing tobacco and gutka.

More than 50 per cent cancer patients are getting treatment at other departments of the KIMS, while they get only critical patients to the Oncology Department. They get more than 400 severe cancer patients in their outpatient department on a monthly basis. They get around 50 critical patients for operations, he added.

“If our department is upgraded into RCC, we will get more infrastructure, beds, more doctors, and other facilities. This will help us to treat more cancer patients and provide them better care,” he noted.