From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
Bangalore, May 6: Cancer research to get a booster dose. However, research is likely to happen in the private sector rather in the public sector, according to Biotechnology Department Secretary M K Bhan.
Inaugurating the Mazumdar-Shaw Centre for Advanced Therapeutics (MS-CAT) at the Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Center in Bangalore on Friday, Bhan said the country was likely to make tremendous progress in cancer research in the coming years.
''Cancer is one of the biggest challenges before the medical fraternity," he said pointing out that the country was faced with tackling the challenges of keeping the growing numbers of its ageing population healthy.
While the private sector, which is unshackled by the bureaucratic red-tape or other restrictions in taking crucial decisions in time to speed up the research work, Bhan said the private sector must follow a people-centric model rather than a corporate model solely guided by the profit motive.
Hospital frameworks must cater to the people than work on business models, he said regretting the lack of quality cancer research in the country.
Quality research foundations must be established close to the hospitals and a transparent relationship between foundations and private institutions must be built so that similar efforts can be replicated.
Dr Devi Shetty, founder of Narayana Health City where the Center is located, said in the next ten years India will become the first country in the world to "dissociate healthcare from affluence."
"A country need not be rich or affluent to offer affordable healthcare. We have to look at different models to provide the best healthcare to each and every citizen of the country."
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, CMD of Biocon and founder of the Center, said what leveraging the talent and skills and meaningfuly employ them in translational research to ensure that the benefits reached the patients was important rather than building mere quality centres.
"We have to move from cancer care to cancer cure and work on areas including diagnostics, gene therapy and vaccines," she said underscoring the need to focus on innovation and cutting edge research.
The 100,000 sq.ft facility located at the high-tech Mazumdar-Shaw Cancer Center provides the most advanced therapy modalities required to manage cancer and complex diseases under one roof.
The Centre is equipped with the the country’s largest bone marrow/stem cell transplant facility, advanced treatment facilities such as immunotherapy, gene therapy, biomodulators to target disease specific, in-vitro fertilization. It is supported by major scientific institutes both from within the country and abroad such as GANIT labs, Strand Genomics, Cornell University, University of California at Irvine, US.