Berhampur: Malati Behera is one of thousands of patients struggling for treatment after being turned away by the MKCG Medical College and Hospital here.

The Chhatrapur resident had been admitted to the hospital with pancreatic cancer, but referred to other hospitals, because the state-run unit does not have the set-up to perform Whipple's procedure. The lack of a cancer-specific surgery ward in the hospital has sealed the fate of thousands of cancer patients like Malati in south Odisha. The premier institute is the referral hospital of 10 south Odisha districts.

"Though we have an out-patient clinic every Friday for treatment of cancer patients, a dedicated cancer surgery ward for admission, treatment and follow-up action is the only solution. Such a ward would help in organised and planned treatment of all such patients under one roof," associate professor of surgery and oncologist Dr Siba Prasad Patnaik said.

"Patients with a variety of cancer cases visit the hospital. In 2017 alone, 1,167 patients had attended the surgical out-patient department and cancer surgery out-patient department for consultation. Of them, 246 patients were admitted for treatment and 128 underwent successful surgery," said Patnaik.

Other departments such as the obstetrics and gynaecology and orthopaedics at the MKCG also admit cancer patients, and they all face the same problems, sources said.

Berhampur MLA and senior BJD leader Ramesh Chandra Chau Patnaik, who is also a physician, said a dedicated cancer surgery ward for all cancer patients of different wards under one roof was necessary. "I had raised the issue in the last Assembly session, and the proposal is under consideration. We would shortly discuss the issue at a high-level meeting in Bhubaneswar," he said. Manab Adhikar Suraksha Manch convener Abani Kumar Gaya, who has been spearheading an agitation for better facilities for years, said despite the hospital being a referral hospital for the people of south Odisha, the state government had closed its eyes.

"Cancer patients of south Odisha have no other option other than the Acharya Harihar Regional Cancer Centre in Cuttack or corporate hospitals in Bhubaneswar or Vishakhapatnam. We must have a specific cancer surgery ward at the MKCG," he said.

Medical college principal Dr Radha Madhab Tripathy said: "We need an expert team of doctors, nurses and other paramedical staff members to open any super speciality ward."