Tripura launched a help desk at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Regional Cancer Centre in Agartala on Thursday to ensure timely assistance for cancer patients to apply for monthly social security pensions.
Social Welfare and Social Education Minister Tinku Roy launched the facility to help eligible cancer patients enrol for a monthly pension of Rs 2,000.
The help desk is expected to complete documentation and enrollment procedures for new applicants within a month to avoid the harassment of patients and delays in the disbursal of pensions.
Cancer patients except government employees and those earning over Rs 1.5 lakh annually are eligible for the pension. Nearly 4,000 cancer patients get the monthly pensions in the state.
Earlier, Chief Minister Manik Saha said the Atal Bihari Regional Cancer Centre was one of the best cancer hospitals in the Northeast. “Our government has been working sincerely towards strengthening the cancer treatment service in the state. This disease can be prevented through generating mass awareness,” he said.
The chief minister, who also holds the health portfolio, stressed increasing awareness about the deadly disease and urged people to seek immediate medical help if they observe abnormal growth in their bodies.
Former Assembly Speaker Ratan Chakraborty, who also chairs the Rogi Kalyan Samiti of the cancer centre, officials of the departments of social welfare and social education and health and cancer patients attended the event.
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