Urban News

Municipal Commissioner Asheesh Sharma said the civic body had been for the past couple of months looking for land for the hospital. “Now that the irrigation department has decided to provide us the land, we will soon submit our plan and layout.”

District Guardian Minister Ajit Pawar had, at a function at Nashik Phata on Saturday, announced that the Irrigation department, headed by him, would hand over the land for setting up the hospital. “We have a 20-acre land along the Pavana river in Sangvi. We are ready to hand over 10 acres to the PCMC for the cancer hospital,” he had said.

Sharma said the PCMC had initially planned to set up the hospital on public-private partnership, but it would now prefer a tie-up with the state government as it had also announced four-five hospitals for treating cancer patients. “We would set up the cancer hospital in association with the government rather than tying up with a private party. Though, the option of tying up with a private party is open.”

The civic administration has been initially reluctant towards the project. It had touted many reasons like no civic body had set up a cancer hospital, such hospitals have been set up only by private parties and that huge funds would be required for the purpose. “The civic administration had been under pressure from various quarters, including politicians who lost their near ones to cancer in recent times,” said Congress corporator Babu Nair.

Finally, the initiative came from the municipal commissioner himself, who persuaded the ruling party as well as corporators on the need to set up a cancer hospital. “Our hospital will have advanced treatment facilities. We have also been looking at options like installing the latest treatment equipment like cyber knife,” Sharma said.