Tata Medical Center to set up research facility

Kolkata, March 29 (IANS) The 167-bedded Tata Medical Center - a high-tech centre for cancer research and treatment - is planning to spend nearly Rs.250 crore to expand its facility, including setting up a modern research centre.

"By 2014 we want to expand this facility. We will have a Phase II building and a state of the art research institute. We plan to increase the number of beds because right now in the phase I facility we have 90 percent occupancy," said Mammen Chandy, director of Tata Medical Center.

"The research centre will cost around Rs.100 crore, whereas the phase II facility will come up for Rs.150 crore. The construction will start as soon as plans are approved and Mr (Ratan) Tata gives the nod. The research centre will be known as Tata Transitional Research Center. In the phase II facility there will be high-tech Gastro Intestinal Surgery center," he said.

The Tata Medical Center (TMC) was inaugurated on May 16, 2011, by Ratan Tata. It is a humanitarian initiative aimed specifically at helping cancer patients from the east and northeast of India and also from Bangladesh.

Nearly 50 percent of the beds are reserved for poor and underprivileged, who either get free treatment or are charged at subsidised rates.