In Bangladesh cancer has become one of the major killer diseases and at present the number of cancer patients in the country is more than 10 lac. Every year two lac or more people get affected with this fatal disease. In spite of this increasing incidence of cancer, the facilities for the treatment of this disease have remained very much limited and inadequate in Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Cancer Institute established by the government in the 1980s has recently been upgraded into a full-fledged 50 bed hospital. Facilities for treatment of cancer diseases in the existing Medical College Hospitals through out the country is very much insufficient, and in most cases, not up to the desired level of standards. Although some private nursing homes are offering care and services in this regard, they are also unable to meet needs of all the type of cancer diseases and at the same time, cost of treatment there remains very high and not within the affordable capacity of very many patients. More disappointing is the fact that all these cancer treatment establishments and facilities can offer treatment and care to hardly some fifteen thousand patients through out the year. The result being that almost all the patients coming from well to do families run for Singapore, Bangkok, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai or Kolkata for proper treatment. And those patients who are not financially well off and live mainly in the country-side, have to embrace the icy hands of painful death remaining deprived of proper treatment. In most cases, patients from the countryside come for treatment at the end stage of their life. They receive limited, incomplete and improper treatment and leave this beautiful world with great amount of pain and suffering.

In the backdrop of the above situation, DAM with its usual concern to mitigate human sufferings has come forward to establish a 300-bed full-fledged Cancer Hospital of international standard with the name and style of "Ahsania Mission Cancer Hospital (AMCH)" -- a gigantic task indeed. The hospital is designed to offer facilities for treatment of all types of cancer diseases and to operate on a no-profit-no loss basis with emphasis to take special care for the treatment of poor patients. Thus, when completed, the hospital will offer better treatment facilities to patients with comparatively lower costs and at the same time enable the country to save a good amount of foreign exchange now being spent on treatment in other countries.

In order to make the cancer hospital project operational at an early date, it has been decided recently to implement it in two phases. In the first phase it will have 160 beds with necessary infrastructure and facilities. This phase will entail a cost of about eighty-four crore Taka. After completion of the first phase, the implementation of the second phase will be start to raise the number of beds to 300. As designed in the project, a number of Early Cancer Detection Centres in different strategic and important towns of the country will be established in due course with the objective to cover the entire outreach cancer patients through out the country.

For the establishment of the AMCH 3 acres of land at the bank of river Turag in Sector No. 10 of Uttara Model Town of the capital city of Dhaka has already been purchased from the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartipakhha (RAJUK) or Capital Development Authority. Land development has also been completed. Design Alliance -- a specialised USA based architectural farm has completed the work of the architectural design for the construction of the hospital and necessary approval from the government for the establishment of the hospital has also been obtained.

In the meantime DAM has already established a 'Cancer Detection and Treatment Centre' in one of its own building at Mirpur of Dhaka as part of the bigger design and edifice of the project. The centre features -- forty-two beds including special cabins, two chemotherapy day-care-centres, two operation theatres and a diagnostic centre for all types of tests. At present, all types of treatment facilities excluding only radiotherapy are available here and are being given to the patients. A team comprising of expert oncologists, and specialist physicians under the active guidance of Dr MA Hai, a renowned cancer specialist at home and abroad, it has ignited the light of hope for multitudes in the field of detection and treatment of cancer in the country. During the last two years of its existence 14,873 patients have received treatment and various services from this centre.

Dhaka Ahsania Mission is going to start the construction work for the establishment of the proposed Cancer Hospital at Uttara, Dhaka very soon with the target of completion of the 1st phase in the year 2007 and making the proposed AMCH fully operational in 2008.

Dhaka Ahsania Mission is a Voluntary Welfare Organisation registered with the Social Welfare Department of the Government of Bangladesh. The huge amount of funds that are required for implementation of the proposed hospital project is simply not possible for DAM to provide from its own. It has to completely rely on the generous, benevolent and kind-hearted individuals and organisations at home and abroad for necessary fund mobilization for the project. DAM believes that these persons and organisations will definitely stretch their kind hands of generous help and with their active cooperation and guidance the proposed AMCH will see the light of the day inspiring hope and confidence in the minds of millions of cancer patients, specially the poor.

For those who would like to participate in the construction and operation of this hospital several alternative options have been kept open. Firstly, those who will donate Taka 10 lakh at a time, his name will be included in the list of founders (initiators). Secondly, by donating for bearing the cost of bed/ward/wing(s) or for purchasing specialised equipment, the donor can dedicate the same in the memory of parents, issues or other dearest one as he or she likes. The names of the concerned people if desired by the donor will be inscribed on the specific bed/ward/wing or equipment as a mark of gratitude. Finally, those who want to help for the treatment of the poor people; they can also do the same by donating in the concerned account for this purpose.

Any amount of money shall be accepted gladly with due regards and gratitude for the cause of humanitarian service.

In the perspective briefly stated above, can we not raise our hopes to receive positive response from the members of the public, specially the well-to-do section of the people of Bangladesh and elsewhere for the implementation of the project for establishing the cancer hospital which may, in due course, attain a stature to serve the suffering people not only of Bangladesh but of the neighboring countries also.

Dhaka Ahsania Mission is a voluntary social welfare organization of international repute having Consultative Status with United Nations ECOSOC & Operational Relations with UNESCO and it is the recipient of several prestigious national and international prizes/awards including-Independence Award-2002 from Govt. of Bangladesh, UNESCO International Literacy Award-2003, UN ESCAP Human Resource Development Award-1994, Grand Prize from Asian Cultural Centre for UNESCO-1996 and National Literacy Award-1998. It has established a number of very famous institutions including Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah Teachers Training College, Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology, Ahsanullah Institute of Information and Communication Technology, Ahsania Mission College of Science & Business Studies, Vocational Training Institute for Working Children etc. In the field of Non-Formal Education, Poverty Elevation, Woman Empowerment & Gender, Environment, Prevention of Drug Abuse and Child & Women Trafficking, Water and Sanitation etc. DAM has wide spread programmes and activities throughout in the country.

Kazi Rafiqul Alam is Executive Director, Dhaka Ahsania Mission.

(The Daily Star and Prothom Alo have joined hands with Ahsania Mission to assist the latter to raise funds for the above Cancer Hospital.)