DIBRUGARH, June 4 - Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal today told a delegation of Dibrugarh Press Club (DPC) that this Upper Assam city will be placed in the Level-1 category while considering setting up of some 19 cancer hospitals in three different categories.
State Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had recently announced the setting up of 19 cancer hospitals in three categories, i.e., Level-I, Level-II and Level-III in the State. As per the announcement, Dibrugarh has been chosen under Level-II category.
The DPC members through a memorandum had demanded that Dibrugarh be place in Level-I category considering its strategic location covering entire Upper Assam and neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh.
Moreover, the city holds the unique distinction of having the first medical institution of the North East in the form of the Dr John Berry White Medical School, which later paved the way for the Assam Medical College and Hospital (AMCH), the oldest medical college of Assam, the scribes mentioned in the memorandum.
The Chief Minister told the DPC members that Dibrugarh will indeed be placed in the Level-1 category and a highly equipped modern cancer hospital would come up in the city, Manashjyoti Dutta, secretary of Dibrugarh Press Club told The Assam Tribune.
The DPC delegation was led by its president Prabir Chakravorty. Similar memorandum was also submitted by Dibrugarh Conscious Citizens� Forum and a few others.
Among other issues, the DPC also brought to the notice of the Chief Minister about the non-functional Japanese Encephalitis (JE) ward at the Assam Medical College. They urged Sonowal to take immediate steps for opening the important ward as every year scores of people either die or are infected by Japanese Encephalitis in Dibrugarh district.
