Tata Memorial Centre proposes hub-and-spoke model to address soaring cancer cases

MUMBAI: Tata Memorial Centres (TMCs), operating under the Government of India and the Department of Atomic Energy, have reported a substantial increase in patients, registering 1.25 lakh new ones annually across their 11 hospitals in seven states of India. Dr Sudeep Gupta, the recently appointed director of the TMCs, said that while the current national cancer caseload is 13,00,000 in all the centres, it is expected to soar to 24,00,000 within the next 10 to 15 years.

Addressing this escalation, Dr Gupta announced the submission of a proposal to the Indian government, advocating the implementation of a hub-and-spoke model for cancer treatment across the country. The proposal aims to establish 30 to 40 specialised hubs, with each hub catering to a population of five to six crore, and accompanying spoke centres offering treatment to as many as one crore people.

Dr Gupta emphasised the strategic geographical distribution of these centres to reduce travel time for patients seeking treatment. Of the 11 hospitals, three, including Khopoli and Muzaffarpur, are earmarked as hubs, while the remaining eight will operate as spoke centres. Additionally, comprehensive training programmes for oncologists, nurses and counsellors will be conducted across India to ensure unrestricted access to cancer care.

“The annual patient footfall at Uttar Pradesh’s Mahamana Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya Cancer Centre (MPMMCC), under the umbrella of TMC, has surged to 22,000 per year within four years of it becoming operational,” said Dr Gupta. “It shows the demand for cancer care in such areas. We thought that with the new centres, Mumbai’s caseload would drop. However, it did not. We therefore submitted the proposal for the hub-and-spoke model.”

Responding to the surge in cancer cases, Tata Memorial Hospital has expanded its infrastructure with support from the central government. The operation theatres at its Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC) have increased from five to 19, while a substantial new facility, the ‘Platinum Jubilee Block’, is currently under construction at the Haffkine Institute campus, covering an expansive 11 lakh square feet. It is expected to be completed by March 2027.

In addition to infrastructure upgradation, Tata Memorial Hospital is at the forefront of groundbreaking research on ayurvedic treatments for cancer patients. A new research centre in Khopoli, situated 45 km from the ACTREC centre, is in progress—ninety-seven traditional medicinal herbs are being cultivated here and seven clinical trials are in progress.

Dr Gupta, who joined Tata Memorial Hospital-Parel as a consultant medical oncologist on June 18, 2001, later became the director of ACTREC-Kharghar. “Our core priority will be to achieve the same level of excellence as Tata Memorial Hospital in all our non-Mumbai cancer hospitals,” he said. “We also aim to set up cutting-edge technology such as digital pathology and artificial intelligence and related technologies in the delivery of cancer healthcare, while keeping affordability in mind.”

The oncologist said that commissioning the new Platinum Jubilee Block in the next four years would be his priority among all the other cancer care work he would be taking up. “It is a vital project for TMC, as it will increase the capacity of the TMH-Parel unit, our mother hospital,” he said. “Once it is commissioned, it will be the largest centre within the TMC network in the country. It will give a huge boost to our radiotherapy services, outpatient services and will also add 520 beds.”

Dr Gupta said the Radiation Research Unit (RRU) at ACTREC-Kharghar, which he started along with proton therapy when he was the director of ACTREC-Kharghar, would be another priority. “The TMH has five hot beds for radiation isotope treatment, which is beneficial for treating thyroid cancer, certain liver tumours, pancreatic tumours and other abdominal tumours,” he said. “However, segregation of the patient till the completion of the treatment is very important to ensure that s/he does not pass on the radioactivity to other people. At ACTREC, we recently started the largest therapeutic nuclear facility in the world with 41 hot beds.”

Dr Gupta said that while the radioisotopes were being procured from other sites, there were plans to install a state-of-art cyclotron unit in the basement of the RRU building in collaboration with the Board of Radiation & Isotope Technology, an independent unit of the department of atomic energy. “Getting the unit will be my priority along with the research work,” he said. “We also plan to replicate it in our cancer centres in Varanasi and Bhubaneswar.”