Tata Trusts has decided to contribute Rs 1,000 crores to help the central government improve cancer care facilities in India. New hospitals will come up in Assam, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.

The cancer-care facilities in Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh will be upgraded on the lines of Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH) at Mumbai. TMH receives cancer patients from across India and provides free or highly subsidised treatment to 60 per cent of them. It has 700 beds and gets about 67,000 new cancer patients every year. TMH will train the doctors and paramedical staff at the new centres.

Jaipur will get a new hospital, which will cost 200 crores which will be borne by the state government. A 23.5-acre new centre will be allotted to the Tata Trusts in Ranchi, Jharkhand. The current Indian Railways cancer institute and research centre will be upgraded in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, which has been taken over by the Trust recently. In Tirumala, Andhra Pradesh, 25 acres will be provided by the Tirupati Balaji Temple Trust for a new facility.

After the establishment of the new or upgraded centres, patients from north India will get better access to treatment. There is also a possibility of a dedicated centre being set up in the north to speed up treatment.