A shelter for outstation cancer patients and their relatives visiting Tata Medical Center for treatment was inaugurated at New Town on Friday.

Premashraya, an 11-storeyed building less than a kilometre from the hospital in New Town Action Area III, can house 200 patients and 300 family members with separate wings for children and those needing palliative care.

“Relatives of cancer patients need to be with them. Poor patients can’t afford expensive hotels; but they need to stay in the vicinity of the hospital as they can’t travel for long,” Piyush Goyal, minister of state for power, coal and new and renewable energy, said after inaugurating the building.

Coal India Ltd has funded the Rs 41-crore project.

Goyal said his ministry would like to help out the hospital, run by the Tata group, with its annual operational expenses that have been calculated at around Rs 30 crore. He also urged the authorities to approach the people of Calcutta for funds.

“I would request Geeta Gopalakrishnan (director, donor relationships, Tata Medical Center, who raised funds for Premashraya) to approach every industrialist, businessman and Rotaries of Calcutta; connect with them and get a promise for Rs 30 crore. Then that’ll give them a satisfaction,” Goyal said.

Mammen Chandy, the medical director of Tata Medical Center, said many patients could not afford treatment for want of a place to stay. “Premashraya was planned when there was no money,” he said. “Then Coal India came forward. But maintaining and running it and keeping the place clean is a big challenge.” St. Jude’s Child Care Centre, a voluntary organisation, would look after the children’s wing.

The hospital authorities said they would hire agencies for housekeeping, cleaning and other daily jobs. Once the daily operational costs have been worked out, the charges for staying will be decided, an official said. The charges will be minimal though, he said.

“In some cases, cancer can’t be cured. But if we can’t cure cancer, we can allow a person to die with dignity. That is why we have two floors for palliative care,” Chandy said.

The third and fourth floors will house patients in need of palliative care. The hospital will counsel and train relatives of such patients in palliative care. The official said patients could return home after completion of the training.

Premashraya, spread over 100,000sq ft, has a library, prayer hall, cafeteria, physiotherapy centre, auditorium and a play area for children.

Four shops on the ground floor will sell vegetables, fruits, grocery and gift items. For every six-seven rooms, there’s a kitchen where family members of patients can cook.

The auditorium will be used for yoga classes, meditation and counselling. There will be vehicles to ferry passengers and their relatives from the building to the hospital. Vastu Shilpa Consultants has designed the building.

The hospital has expansion plans as well. A seven-storey building with 250 beds will come up on the same campus where the 183-bed hospital is now operating.

An official said Indian Oil Corporation had funded part of the Rs 200-crore project.

“It’ll have three radiotherapy machines. Currently, we have two machines and the average waiting time for a patient is two months despite both machines operating from 11am to midnight,” said V.R. Ramanan, the deputy director of the hospital. The target date for completing the building is 2017.

source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, Calcutta, India / Front Page> Calcutta> Story / by Special Correspondent / Saturday – July 04th, 2015