Minister for Information and Publicity M.P. Saminathan on Tuesday inaugurated a new proton therapy room at the Apollo Proton Cancer Centre (APCC) at Tharamani here and named it Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Therapy Bay.
Speaking on the occasion, he said the Chief Minister M.K. Stalin was very particular about ensuring the health of the people of the State, which was why he had launched various programmes including Varum Munn Kappom and Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvar Thittam. The Minister recalled how the present government took over during the pandemic and the priority at that time was to create awareness and infrastructure to combat the emergency. Appreciating the hospital management for naming the therapy bay after Dr. Kalam, he said that the State government would soon install a statue of the former President near Anna University.
Harshad Reddy, Director-Operations, Group Oncology and International, Apollo Hospitals, said that at the APCC, they had so far treated over 800 patients from 35 different countries. The mission of the centre is to defeat cancer precisely and redefine clinical benchmarks and outcomes, he added.
Rakesh Jalali, Medical Director and HOD- Radiation Oncology, APCC, said the first two bays were named after Nobel laureate Sir C. V. Raman and mathematical genius Ramanujam. With the additional room, we can treat more patients at a time, he added.
APJMJ Sheik Dawood, co- founder, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam International Foundation and Harish Trivedi, Chief Executive Officer, APCC, were also present on the occasion.