Bhubaneswar, May 31: Yesterday, Odisha government announced of providing free chemotherapy facility to cancer patients in all the district headquarters hospitals in Odisha. Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik made that announcement on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day. Odisha is the second state after MP where cancer chemotherapy is provided at DHHs. Free chemotherapy has been available in 13 other districts such as Koraput, Rayagada, Nabarangpur, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Phulbani and Puri. Free cancer care has also been available at the Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar and Ispat General Hospital (IGH), Rourkela. The CM also highlighted that the service will benefit the cancer patients in both rural and tribal areas as they will now be getting chemotherapy and consultation free of cost. Around 40,000 to 60,000 new cancer patients are admitted in Odisha every year and as of now, there are three lakh cases of surviving cancer patients here.
