During
that time. With the help and support of Dr. B.C. Roy, an eminent
physician and the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, the
foundation of the present day Chittaranjan Cancer Hospital
(CCH) was laid. The hospital was formally inaugurated by Prof.
Madam J. Curie in January 2, 1950 and named after Deshbandhu
Chittaranjan Das, as a tribute to and in acknowledgement of
the enormous donation of his land and property for the cause.
Initially this was a cancer treatment centre, which gradually
expanded its activities in basic and clinical research with
the assistance from government funding organizations. This
eventually led to the founding of the Chittaranjan National
Cancer Research Centre (CNCRC), funded by the Government of
India in 1957, which was committed to basic research on cancer.
The Chittaranjan Cancer Hospital and Chittaranjan National
Cancer Research Centre functioned as separate entities in
adjacent buildings until their merger in 1987 and emergence
of Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute (CNCI) with the
objective of serving as a premier Regional Cancer Center (RCC)
for the Eastern Region of the Country. Over the years, CNCI
had grown from a humble beginning and achieved reputation
and accolades in varied face of cancer treatment and research.
The new operation technique introduced by Dr. Subodh Mitra
had become internationally accepted as ‘Mitra’s
Operation’ and was practiced for surgical treatment
of the uterine cervix. The surgical oncology department and
the radiotherapy facilities of CCH were of a very high standard
since its inception with many famous Oncologists contributing
their share of expertise and knowledge.
CNCI today has undergone major changes and improvement in
the patient care and management facilities during the last
five years with extensive reorganization and renovation of
all the departments, wards, operation theatre complex and
laboratories. The surgical oncology department today handles
complex surgical procedures backed by a fresh team of surgeons,
state-of-art equipments and supported by the Intensive Treatment
Unit (ITU) for critical patient care with modern equipments
and round-the-clock laboratory back up. The number of specialists,
junior doctors, nursing staff and technicians has been increased
considerably to ensure better attention and treatment of cancer
patients and their family. Special Clinics for Mastectomy,
Laryngectomy, Pain are now available for patient care. A fully
functioning Endoscopy OT handles the routine diagnostic and
therapeutic procedures in endoscopy. The Blood Bank and Transfusion
Department and the Diagnostic Laboratories now have modern
updated and automated equipments, including facilities for
Mammography, modern X – ray, Ultrasonography and a CT
Scan (under installation). At present CNCI hospital is one
of the best centres for radiotherapy with its two Cobalt Machines,
computerized Treatment Planning System, modern Brachytherapy
units which includes microselection HDR with Co source and
also LDR with Caesium source, a fully Computerized Simulator
and one Linear Accelerator.
Research activities at this
institute had initially emphasized on the understanding of
the biology of cancer particularly of the predominant types
viz. oral cavity and uterine cervix and eminent researchers
and scholars participating in these programmes, published
and presented their work in leading international journals
and at international meetings. The institute was and continues
to be a centre of doctoral and postdoctoral training for young
scientists. During the last five years research departments
at CNCI have undergone reorganization of the infrastructure
and programmes in basic and clinical research to include need-based
contemporary as well as futuristic research areas. The current
approach is based on a programme-oriented research in areas
of new diagnostic methods, identification of risk factors
and investigation of chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic
agents from natural sources. Research groups on contemporary
fields such as molecular carcinogenesis, gene therapy, receptor
biology and signal transduction have also been established.
A new central research instrumentation facility (CRIF) has
been created in 1996 to provide centralized and upgraded technology
for oncology research. The library has added its own literature
search programmes through CD – ROM database.
The Preventive Oncology Division,
the first of its kind in eastern India was set up at CNCI
in 1995 with the goal of implementing primary prevention in
keeping with the objective of the National Cancer Control
Programme. The division has extended its activities to the
districts of West Bengal and provides cancer education and
awareness for the general masses in addition to its cancer
screening and early detection programmes. Investigative studies
have also been initiated to identify risk factors associated
with the prevalent forms of cancer in this region for understanding
their etiology and formulate remedial measures.
To facilitate collection
of reliable and authentic information on the pattern of cancer
incidence, CNCI has for the first time set up the Hospital
and Population Based Cancer Registries with support from IARC,
Lyon (WHO) and Government of West Bengal.
With its new approaches for program oriented
preventive measures, diagnostics, treatment and research,
as well the recent accomplishments through improved professional
competence CNCI is all set to march ahead into the next millennium
and fulfil its commitment as a Regional Cancer Centre. To
understand the nature of the disease and provide better facilities
for prevention and management of the disease has been and
will remain its goal.
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