Last year, when the municipal corporation was busy converting vacant buildings into COVID-19 care centres, a small group of doctors from Mumbai were invested in the creation of a facility that would target the other deadly C-word: cancer. As surgeons working for private hospitals, they would routinely come across patients in need of affordable care, but following protocols meant less autonomy. “The patients’ costs and doctors’ charges are decided by the hospital. Even if we reduce doctor fees, it doesn’t make a difference to the patient’s overall budget. How much you end up paying for the treatment is also linked to the selection of bed on a per day basis. Same with OT charges and medicine costs,” says oncologist Dr Chetan Anchan, whose expertise lies in the management of bone and soft tissue tumors. It was admittedly all the more heartbreaking for him as his cases largely involve children. “Bone cancer is very common between the age of five and 20 years. I’ve seen cases where patients’ families have chosen to forego treatment and gone back home, because they couldn’t afford it, which is why we wanted a hospital that belonged to us—where we are in control of the costs.”

Specialty Surgical Oncology (SSO) is that place. Located in Ghatkopar, the hospital is the brainchild of six oncologists, who, with their solid experience in highly focused areas of cancer surgery, have joined forces to provide the best of their collective expertise to patients. The hospital is touted to be a one-stop centre for all treatments of cancer. Had it not been for the Coronavirus outbreak, Dr Anchan says they would have been up and running by September last year. Despite the delay, the hospital officially opened its doors on January 30 this year. Activities over the past two weeks have centred around launching the OPD (outpatient department) and OT (operating theatre) and finalising the remaining recruitments for various positions.