MUMBAI: Central Railway (CR) officials said that a rest house for cancer patients and their relatives has been refurbished and commissioned at CR’s Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Memorial Railway Hospital at Byculla in south Mumbai. The rest house has dormitories for male and female patients in addition to 32 rooms for supervisors and relatives, CR officials said. Six-hundred-and-fifty railway patients are being referred to city-based premier cancer care hospital, Tata Memorial Hospital, every month, sources said.
CR officials said, “In view of the tremendous load of railway personnel and to mitigate the suffering of outstation patients and their relatives, the CR constructed the rest house for relatives and care givers of patients admitted for treatment both at the zonal hospital and Tata Memorial Hospital.”
The seven-storied building has accommodation for 190 patients and their relatives. The move is expected to address the suffering of outstation patients and their care givers.
According to a CR press release, “The rooms and dormitories are well furnished with cots, mattresses, pillows, chairs, RO drinking water, refrigerators and other furniture required for the daily needs of patients and their relatives”.
CR officials said, “Six-hundred-and-fifty referrals of the hospital are being made to Tata Memorial Hospital every month. All this requires supportive chemotherapy treatment necessitating long period of stay in Mumbai for such cancer patients. This creates a lot of difficulties for outstation patients for whom, it is a nightmare not only in terms of medical problems but also lodging, boarding and finances.”
