Sri Balaji Institute of Oncology (SBIO), being set up in Tirupati under the aegis of Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences (SVIMS University), is all set to become a gamechanger in offering sophisticated cancer treatment at an affordable price to the commoners.
The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has allocated ₹324 crore for the state-of-the-art 400-bed facility, including ₹200 crore for procurement of advanced equipment. Of the three regional cancer institutes planned by the Andhra Pradesh government as recommended by Indo-American oncologist Nori Dattatreyudu, the SBIO will cater to the needs of the patients from the Rayalaseema region, while similar facilities are coming up at Chinakakani in Guntur and KGH in Visakhapatnam.
“The SBIO is coming up in a 3 lakh sft area in a seven-storeyed building which will house departments such as bone marrow transplant unit, cancer registry, genetics institute, geriatric oncology, onco-pathology, paediatric oncology and preventive oncology,” says SVIMS Director and Vice-Chancellor R.V. Kumar.
Aiming at strengthening the faculty, a foundation course was launched in December 2022 on palliative medicine. The SBIO has started cancer registry to screen cancer cases and create awareness among the public to facilitate early diagnosis.
Mobile screening vehicle flagged off
Meanwhile, VPR Foundation’s Vemireddy Prashanti Reddy donated a bus worth ₹3 crore to the SBIO on February 4 (Sunday) to conduct mobile screening camps in rural areas, especially for women. She released the publicity material on women self-diagnosing cervical, oral and breast cancers.
The bus was flagged off by TTD Chairman B. Karunakar Reddy in the presence of Special Chief Secretary (Health) M.T. Krishna Babu, TTD Executive Officer A.V. Dharma Reddy, SVIMS Director R.V. Kumar, Joint EO Sada Bhargavi and DM&HO U. Sreehari.
