Oncology Day Care, OPD services started at AIIMS

Bhubaneswar: To strengthen chemotherapy needs of cancer patients in Odisha and in the neighboring States, the Medical Oncology division, AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, started its own dedicated day care services and OPD on Monday.

Inaugurating the facilities at G block of the main building, AIIMS director Prof MukeshTripathi reiterated the institute's commitment to serve cancer patients with more vigor and dedication. The services will certainly help cancer patients requiring chemotherapy, he said.

Medical superintendent Dr Sachidananda Mohanty congratulated the faculties and encouraged them. Before this arrangement, the division was conducting simultaneous OPDs and daycare with the Hematology department.

There was, however, a huge need for a separate day care space because of the large number of patients. Last month itself there were 160 new OPD registrations and 446 OPD consultations for medical oncology only. During this period 105 days of chemotherapies were also undertaken, said Dr Sourav Mishra of the division.

The division is the first dedicated medical oncology unit in the government sector in Odisha after the AHRCC at Cuttack. The unit caters to the chemotherapy needs of cancer patients not only from Odisha but also from nearby States.

Two new medical oncology faculties Dr Sourav Kumar Mishra and Dr. Ilavarasi Vanidassane have joined and started the medical oncology services at AIIMS.

For now, the cancer patients seeking opinion from medical oncology can directly register at the G block. This will be of great help for the patients who need not wait in long queues for consultation.

The department will do OPDs on Tuesdays and Thursdays and the day care services will run on all weekdays.

Among others HOD Medical Oncology/Haematology department Dr Prabodh Das, JMS Dr J S Pillai, associate professor Dr Sourav Kumar Mishra and assistant professor Dr IlavarasiVanidassane were present.