Regional Cancer Centres

Regional Cancer Centres (RCCs) are cancer care hospitals and research institutes operating in India under the joint control and funding of the Government of India and the respective state governments. The name 'regional' because each of these institutions cater to a designated region, usually a number of districts in the country. There are presently 62 such centres spanning all the states and union territories of India.[1] This system works under the National Cancer Control Programme which started in 1975 under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (India).[2][3] The scheme originally started with 5 RCCs for 5 designated regions of the nation. Later this number was increased in steps. The Tata Memorial Centre at Mumbai is the oldest and the most comprehensive amongst these centres. Similar to these are the 72 NCI-designated Cancer Centers in the US.