DB ask respondents to strictly implement guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare for strengthening of Tertiary Care of Cancer

22/11/2019

SRINAGAR, NOV 21:A Division Bench of High Court Comprising Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey and Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur while disposing of a PIL, directed respondents to strictly comply with the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India for strengthening of Tertiary Care of Cancer and speed up the work of construction of the operation theatres in the upcoming State Cancer Institute as per the proposed requisition.
Division Bench further directed respondents to ensure that every possible step is taken in the process of making available the operation theaters for the Department of Surgical Oncology for all days of the week. While giving liberty to the petitioner to approach this Court, again, in the event the grievance, as projected by her in this petition, is not redressed, at the same time, we hope and trust that the authorities concerned do not constrain the petitioner, who is a cancer patient, to knock at the portals of this Court again with reference to providing adequate and timely treatment to the cancer patients in Jammu and Kashmir.
DB also observed that ordinarily, all the concerned authorities in the Government of Jammu and Kashmir, including those of the respondent Institute, being the official functionaries of the Government, are under a statutory and legal duty to ensure that all requisite steps are taken to mitigate the sufferings of cancer patients in the Jammu and Kashmir within the import and purport of the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India. furthermore, since the issue of growing menace of cancer cases, as is the subject matter of the instant petition, is an issue which not only directly concerns the public at large, but also requires all possible efforts and steps from the functionaries of the Government so that the same is reduced to the minimal possible position. However, we find it very painful that the petitioner, being a cancer patient and having undergone five cancer removal surgeries on various occasions, has had to approach this Court and state that the Gove anent has failed in providing any proper infrastructure or assistance lo the cancer patients, as is due to the citizens belonging to a welfare Society like the Jammu and Kashmir. In the Public Interest Litigation, petitioner seeks direction to the respondents to comply with the Guidelines for Strength ening of Tertiary Care of Cancer as provided by Government of India in letter and spirit and to construct operation theatres in the upcoming State Cancer Institute as per the proposed requisition.DB after hearing counsel for the parties and considered the pleadings on record, feels that the issue highlighted in the instant petition, i.e., the growing cases of cancer in Jammu and Kashmir, is of grave public importance and that this issue has emerged as a major public health challenge internationally and in India. Keeping in view the aforesaid major health challenge having emerged in the country and also in recognition of the fact that it is one of the leading causes of deaths across the length and breadth of the world, the Government of India, way back in the year 2013, has already framed the guidelines for setting up/ strengthening of Tertiary Care Cancer Centers under the National Program for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, CVD and Stroke (NPCDCS).
These guidelines envisage to support the establishment of 20 State Cancer Institutes (SCIs) in 20 States and 50 Tertiary Care Cancer Centers (TCCCs) in different parts of the country with the object to develop capacity for tertiary care for cancer in all the States so as to provide universal access for comprehensive cancer care. In this backdrop, the Government of Jammu and Kashmir, in collaboration with the Central Government, paved the way for creation of the State Cancer Institute with the aim to mitigate the sufferings of cancer patients in Jammu and Kashmir by providing them adequate and timely treatment as per the guidelines issued the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India. After the commencement of the structural work of the State Cancer Institute, it appears that certain deviations and structural flaws were noticed in the construe lion of building of the State Cancer Institute and, thereafter, as per the petitioner, who is herself a cancer patient, those structural flaws have not been rectified thereby hampering the chances of improvement of the health condition of cancer patients in the Jammu and Kashmir. During the pendency of the instant petition, the respondent Institute has filed various Status/ Compliance Reports indicating therein the steps taken/ or to be taken in the process of ensuring adequate and timely treatmei :s provided to the cancer patients visiting the Institute. The Status/ Compliance Reports also bring it to limelight that certain procedural aspects have re: lied in the delay in the setting up of the State Cancer Institute as per the sidelines issued by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt of India.

Photo Gallery

BSE Sensex

NSE Nifty