Lok Sabha Question No. 901 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-02-07
Subject: National Cancer Grid
Ministry: ATOMIC ENERGY
Asked by: Kanakmal Katara, Dharmendra Kumar Kashyap

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA DEPARTMENT OF ATOMIC ENERGY

## LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 901

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 07.02.2024

## National Cancer Grid

901.  SHRI KANAKMAL KATARA: SHRI DHARMENDRA KASHYAP:

Will the PRIME MINISTER be pleased to state:

- a) t he details of the specific measures being implemented to ensure that patients receive high-quality cancer care at an affordable cost;
- b) the  details  of  the  specific  research  outputs  introduced  in  the  field  of cancer care over the past four years; and
- c) the details of the manner in which the National Cancer Grid is involved in  cancer  care  along  with  the  details  of  centres,  research  institutes, etc., that are part of its network, State-wise?

## ANSWER

THE  MINISTER  OF  STATE  FOR  PERSONNEL,  PUBLIC  GRIEVANCES  & PENSIONS AND PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE (DR. JITENDRA SINGH)

- a) The details of specific measures being implemented by TMC to ensure that patients receive high-quality cancer care are as below:
- 1) Resource  stratified  guidelines  for  management  of  cancers  based on the cost-effectiveness and infrastructure availability.
- 2) The  guidelines  are  linked  with  Ayushman  Bharat  Pradhan  Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) to ensure quality of care delivery to the AB-PMJAY beneficiaries.
- 3) Standardization of  diagnosis  by  National  Cancer  Grid  (NCG) surgical pathology quality assurance program which helps ensuring correct diagnosis at all the participating centres.
- 4) Quality improvement programme which train the centres in improving quality of all the care pathways.

- 5) Group negotiation for all the high-value anticancer drugs resulting in a median 82% price reduction leading to improvement in access and affordability of drugs.
- 6) Training of health-care professionals including nurses, pathologists and  technicians  from  across  the  country  to  deliver  high  quality cancer care.
- 7) Virtual Tumour Boards to provide inputs on diagnosis and treatment from a multidisciplinary team of cancer experts for all the complex cancer cases at any of the cancer centers at any location.
- b) The details of the specific research outputs introduced by TMC in the field of cancer care over the past four years is as below:
- 1) Optimization of treatment of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia  to  increase  cure  rates  -  the  largest  trial  done  till  date anywhere in the world.
- 2) Repurposing of drugs (aspirin, metformin and curcumin) to provide cost-effective treatment options for common cancers.
- 3) Training  the  early  career  oncologists  in  conducting  high-quality cancer  research.  Till  date  more  than  400  oncologists  have  been trained.
- 4) Setting a priority agenda for cancer research and collaborating with ICMR  (with  joint  matched  funding)  to  fund  the  country-relevant research questions.
- c) The details of steps taken by the National Cancer Grid for cancer care is as below:
- 1) Expansion of the network from 17 centres to 320 centres  across all the States and Union Territories (state-wise list at https://ncgindia.org).
- 2) Establishment  of  Koita  Centre  of  digital  oncology  (funded  by  a Charitable Foundation) to leverage digital technologies to improve cancer  care  from  prevention  to  treatment.  This  is  in  complete alignment with Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission.

- 3) Integrated  data  collection  &  aggregation  -  a  'National  Cancer Database  to  guide  all  the  cancer  policies  and  national  cancer control plan. Initial databases established for five common cancers.
- 4) Partnering with digital tech companies to deliver cancer care near to patient's home.
- 5) Initiation of national tumor tissue biobank across NCG  to understand the cancer causation, identification and development of new anticancer treatment and preventive technologies.

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