In October,2009,Chief Minister Narendra Modi rolled out the Sanjivani Rath,a mobile clinic launched by Gujarat Cancer and Research Institute (GCRI) for attending suspected and confirmed cases of cancer in remote areas of the state. It had then raised hopes that people would not have to come up to Ahmedabad or any other places for treatment from far off places. But four years later,the rath seems to have no fixed schedule,compelling patients to visit to places like Ahmedabad. Routinely,the rath visits an area only after some organisation notifies a requirement, said Dr Parimal Jivrajani,head of Community Oncology department at GCRI. As a result,the raths are lying idle most of time,one each in Ahmedabad,Rajkot and Siddhpur,according to Dr Jivrajani. No one keeps record of the vehicles in Siddhpur and in Rajkot,the two satellite centres for cancer care. Readied at a cost of Rs 1.25 crore each,the 35-foot-long air-conditioned vehicles are supposed to reach out to the people in the remote tribal villages,said Dr Jivrajani. Equipped with facilities like digital radiography,mammography,endoscopy and tele medicine etc.,the mobile clinics remain more or less stationary. The one in Ahmedabad is scheduled to go out in January next year, he added.
