Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) has proposed expanding its regional cancer centre from three departments to six, with the project cost revised to ₹198 crore. Madurai: Cancer patients from southern Tamil Nadu who travel hundreds of kilometres to Chennai or Kerala for advanced treatment could soon receive specialised care closer home.
Proposals for transferring the initial 126 cents and additional 84 cents were submitted on July 30 and Oct 1, respectively. A consolidated proposal covering 210 cents followed on Oct 9. The ₹198-crore funding proposal was forwarded on Oct 3. In April 2025, Madras high court noted that patients from southern districts travelled hundreds of kilometres and sometimes stayed in Chennai for months to access free transplantation services D Viswanathan, relative of a cancer patient from VIllapuram, said, “Watching them suffer through cancer treatment is painful enough.
The three additions are paediatric haemato-oncology, nuclear medicine and bone marrow transplantation, GRH dean Arul Sundaresh Kumar said. Paediatric haemato-oncology would provide specialised care for children with blood cancers and related diseases. Nuclear medicine would support specialised cancer imaging and treatment, while bone marrow transplantation would benefit eligible patients with blood cancers and marrow disorders. Land availability and transfer procedures had held up the project. The hospital required govt approval to repurpose land at the former collectorate and adjoining Anna Bus Stand area for healthcare use. The expansion could particularly benefit families seeking bone marrow transplants at Chennai’s Rajiv Gandhi Govt General Hospital or Institute of Child Health. Taking them all the way to Chennai, finding a place to stay and managing expenses make it even harder. If treatment is available in Madurai, families can focus on saving their loved ones instead of worrying about the next journey.”
Madurai MP Su Venkatesan told reporters on Wednesday after chairing the district development coordination and monitoring committee (DISHA) meeting that longstanding procedural issues concerning land reclassification and cancer centre had been resolved.