Cancer institute to be upgraded to 1000-bed: Health minister

The National Institute of Cancer Research and Hospital. Photo: UNB
The National Institute of Cancer Research and Hospital. Photo: UNB

The National Institute of Cancer Research and Hospital (NICRH), Bangladesh's apex cancer institute, will be upgraded to a 1000-bed hospital soon, health and family welfare minister Zahid Maleque said on Saturday.

“During the incumbent government, NICRH was upgraded to a 300-bed hospital. It’s now a 500-bed hospital. It’ll be turned into a 1000-bed hospital soon,” he said.

The minister was addressing a ceremony marking the inauguration of a new building of NICRH, country’s one of four specialised hospitals for treating cancer, and its upgradation to a 500-bed hospital.

Stating that about 65 per cent of the total deaths are caused due to non-communicable diseases, including cancer, in the country, Zahid Maleque said the government will establish eight more cancer hospitals in as many divisions.

Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA) president Mustafa Jalal Mohiuddin and Swadhinata Chikitsak Parishad president Iqbal Arsenal, among others, spoke at the programme with NICRH director Md Moyarraf Hossain in the chair.