Jaipur: Unavailability of hospital beds at Jaipur-based State Cancer Institute (SCI) has resulted in an endless wait for patients needing urgent medical attention. The crisis had led SCI to request RUHS Hospital to accommodate and treat cancer patients at its facilities as an interim measure.
Currently equipped with 170 beds, SCI plans to expand capacity to 500 beds. Until the completion of construction work, however, the regional cancer centre – one of three institutes located in Jaipur, Jhalawar, and Bikaner – continues to struggle with an acute space crunch.
SCI is a newly established tertiary care hospital in Jaipur that was commissioned in Feb 2020 with the aim of providing comprehensive cancer care under one roof. While medical oncology was the first service offered, SCI has since emerged as a one-stop hospital treating all types of cancers.
Superintendent of SCI, Dr Sandeep Jasuja told TOI that since RUHS building is adjacent to SCI, and the former is not running at full capacity, it can help cancer patients in treatment. “We have no beds available to accommodate more patients. For the benefit of patients, we have requested govt to provide beds in RUHS hospital until our building is completed,” Jasuja told TOI.
SCI provides free-of-cost cancer medicines to eligible patients. “We have added new medicines to the list of medication provided free of cost. As a result, we get patients not only from Rajasthan, but also from across the country,” Jasuja added.
Meanwhile, Dr Deepak Maheshwari, principal and controller of SMS Medical College, to which SCI is affiliated, said additional space will be available once the construction work is complete. “We are providing latest equipment and machines to SCI for the benefit of patients,” Maheshwari said, including MRI services, which are currently not available at SCI.
