ve acres of land by the Maharashtra government to enable it expand, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said here Wednesday.

“The land will be utilised by the hospital to set up dedicated cancer treatment wings for women and children and a headron beam therapy centre,” Chavan said.

Functioning under the Department of Atomic Energy since 1962, the hospital is the country’s premier institution for treatment of cancer, cancer education and cancer research. 

It is currently located on a cramped four-acre campus in Parel in central Mumbai.

The central government recently announced a grant of Rs.4.5 billion (Rs.450 crore) to the hospital for expanding its facilities for women, children and purchasing a state-of-the-art headron beam therapy centre.

Set up in 1941 with 100 beds for exclusive treatment of cancer patients, the hospital today is a 700-bed facility.

On an average, it treats around 300,000 patients, or nearly 1,000 patients per day, suffering from all types of cancers, at the Parel complex.

With 43,000 new cases each year from across Asia, the hospital provides primary care to 60 percent of all patients, and of these, 70 percent are treated virtually free.

It also conducts 6,300 major cancer surgeries and gives radiotherapy and chemotherapy to another 6,000 patients.