TTD’s Balaji Institute of Oncology to procure two mobile cancer screening units at Rs 8.35 cr – Times of India

Tirupati, July 13: Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams run Balaji institute of oncology will procure two new mobile cancer screening units at a cost of Rs.8.35 crore.
The Tirupati trust which manages the affairs of the iconic Lord Venkateswara temple and nearly five dozen temples across the country, contributes immensely to the fields of education and healthcare.
TTD established and manages various speciality hospitals including Sri Venkateswara institute of medical sciences (SVIMS), Balaji institute of research and rehabilitation for the disabled (BIRRD), Ayurvedic hospital, Sri Padmavathi childrens hospital etc.
The TTD trust board which has been focussing it’s attention on enhancing the quality of healthcare extended at the various hospitals managed by it, has been pumping in hundreds of crores of rupees to extend state of the art healthcare facilities either free of cost or at affordable prices.
The TTD trust led by Chairman YV Subba Reddy and EO AV Dharma Reddy, in one of its recently held trust board meetings, resolved to procure two mobile cancer screening units at a cost of Rs.8.35 crore.
During the trust board meeting, YV Subba Reddy noted that it is the aspiration of Chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to have a comprehensive cancer care project in Andhra Pradesh and that the state government envisages to establish three comprehensive cancer care centres, one each at SVIMS-Tirupati, Chinnakakani-Guntur and at KGH-Visakhapatnam.
Following the approval of the TTD trust board, arrangements are being made to procure two mobile cancer screening units. While each mobile cancer screening bus with mandatory equipment would cost the TTD Rs.2.15 crore, the temple trust will spend an additional sum of Rs.58.6 lakh for procurement of additional equipment for each bus.
The annual manpower recruitment cost for each bus is estimated to be around Rs.96 lakh.
While Balaji institute of oncology has one “Pink bus” at present, two new mobile screening buses will be added to the fleet.
While until now, only women folk were made part of the cancer screening tests, the district administration and the TTD trust intends to include men too to undergo cancer screening across Tirupati district.
TTD will join hands with the district administration of Tirupati to conduct an extensive cancer screening across all mandals and constituencies in the near future as part of its preventive oncology initiative.