India has expanded its cancer care infrastructure under multiple national health programmes, with 770 District Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Clinics, 524 Day Care Cancer Centres (DCCCs), and 6,410 NCD clinics at Community Health Centres now operational across the country, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare informed Parliament.
In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on July 21, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Prataprao Jadhav said that while healthcare remains a State subject, the Centre continues to provide technical and financial assistance to States and Union Territories under the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NP-NCD) through the National Health Mission (NHM).
The government said the programme focuses on strengthening infrastructure, developing human resources, promoting early diagnosis, improving referrals, and expanding treatment services for non-communicable diseases, including cancer.
To improve financial access to treatment, the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) provides eligible families with health coverage of up to ₹5 lakh annually for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization. The scheme currently offers cashless treatment for 1,961 procedures across 27 medical specialties, including medical, surgical, and radiation oncology, through empanelled public and private hospitals.
As part of efforts to reduce delays in diagnosis, population-based screening for oral, breast, and cervical cancers is being conducted for individuals aged 30 years and above through Ayushman Arogya Mandirs, with frontline health workers such as ASHAs and ANMs carrying out community-level screening and referrals.
The Ministry also highlighted that Day Care Cancer Centres are being established in district hospitals under a hub-and-spoke model, enabling patients to access chemotherapy and other day-care oncology services closer to their homes.
At the tertiary level, the Centre has approved 19 State Cancer Institutes (SCIs) and 20 Tertiary Care Cancer Centres (TCCCs) under the Strengthening of Tertiary Care Cancer Facilities Scheme. Additionally, the Tata Memorial Centre has established six cancer hospitals in Varanasi, Visakhapatnam, New Chandigarh, Guwahati, Sangrur, and Muzaffarpur to provide comprehensive oncology services.
Cancer diagnosis and treatment facilities have also been extended to all 22 new AIIMS, while advanced cancer care is available at the National Cancer Institute (Jhajjar) and the second campus of Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute (Kolkata), further expanding access to specialised oncology services across the country.
