PATNA: Noted Bollywood actor and former Union health minister Shatrughan Sinha launched a cancer awareness drive here at the Mahavir Cancer Sansthan (MCS) on Wednesday. He said the awareness drive should now be carried forward from cities to villages to create a proper awareness about cancer among the common people.
Lauding the role of MCS in providing specialised treatment to cancer patients at a low cost, Sinha said though the country has progressed in various fields, it is , however, yet to overcome several fatal diseases including cancer. Unless a massive awareness drive is launched across the country, it is very difficult to check its spread in different parts of the country, he said.
“Unfortunately Bihar seems to be at the top of cancer patients’ list as compared to other states,” he said.
Sinha appealed to people, particularly the youth, to come forward for cancer check-ups at the MCS.
Keeping in mind that prevention is better than cure, he said that Bihar could overcome the disease if people voluntarily offer themselves for the checkup after 40 years of age.
Cancer has become curable now if it is detected in time, he said and added that he was ready to offer himself for the regular check up at the MCS.
Speaking on the occasion, health minister Chandra Mohan Rai said the state government would now launch a cancer awareness drive in each district of the state to check its spread. Besides, the government would call a high level meeting soon to accelerate cancer awareness drive in every part of the state.
The government would extend all possible assistance to make the MCS a standard centre for the cancer patients’ treatment in the eastern region, he said.
Minister for sports and culture Janardhan Singh Segriwal said that the MCS has proved to be a boon for the poor cancer patients. The government is willing to provide some games items to MCS for the recreation of cancer patients who have been undergoing treatment there, he said.
Secretary of the Mahavir Mandir Nyas Samiti Acharya Kishore Kunal praised the efforts of Sinha for contributing a lot in the development of MCS.
He stressed the need for setting up a corpus of Rs 1 crore for providing proper treatment to poor cancer patients of the state.
The fund could be raised with the joint venture of both the government and MCS, he said adding the government should also evolve a plan to reimburse medical expenses to government employees as well as poor people undergoing treatment at the MCS.
Earlier, MCS director Dr J K Singh welcomed the guests and highlighted achievements of the cancer hospital.
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