BBCI Bids Farewell to Dr. Amal Chandra Kataki as Director

GUWAHATI: The fruitful career of Dr. Amal Chandra Kataki as Director of Dr. B Borooah Cancer Institute (BBCI) is coming to an end on Saturday, and a farewell function was organised at BBCI auditorium on Friday for that purpose. Many distinguished guests graced the occasion.

Delivering his speech on the occasion, Dr Kataki opined that BBCI will go on to reach a more advanced level. He asked people to celebrate life, saying that cancer doesn't mean an end to life. He stressed that patients with cancer can be cured if treatment is provided at an early stage.

Dr. Amal Chandra Kataki, Director of Dr. B Borooah Cancer Institute (BBCI), Guwahati will superannuate from service on Dec 31, 2022. Dr.Kataki joined as Director in 2003 at a challenging time when the institute was faced with frequent agitations.

Under his dynamic leadership, BBCI has served around 18 lakh patients with cancer with no loss of hospital working days. His academic excellence led to the Union for International Cancer Control in Geneva Awarding Fellowships to him in 1996 at Mayo Clinic, USA and in 2002 at Hammersmith Hospital, London. He also received specialized training on cancer surgery at M D Anderson Cancer Centre, Houston, USA, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, New York, and St Bartholomew Hospital, London.

During the COVID pandemic, his inspirational leadership assured uninterrupted cancer treatment at BBCI and a staggering 431,226 patients with cancer received consultation during the pandemic, for which the Government of Assam presented Award of Appreciation. More than 5000 patients with cancer were also provided teleconsultations during the lockdown phase of the pandemic.

Dr.Kataki has compiled four textbooks in Oncology, served as the Editor-In-Chief of a journal Annals of Oncology Research and Therapy. He has published 213 original research papers in national and international journals, and headed 35 research projects. For his yeoman service, he was presented numerous awards and delivered prestigious Orations.

In view of acute shortage of human resource in the field of cancer care, Dr Kataki's leadership led to the starting of post-graduate, super-speciality courses, and para medical courses in 22 disciplines of oncology for the first time in North East India. Another important milestone was the introduction of the Bone Marrow Transplant program in 2021 for the first time a public sector hospital in the region.

The institute also received National Accreditation Board of Laboratories. Dr. B Borooah Cancer Institute stood first for four consecutive years in the implementation of Atal Amrit Abhiyan and PM-JAY schemes, for which the institute was presented was Award of Appreciation by the Hon'ble Chief Minister of Assam Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma during the Independence Day Celebration in 2021.The institute was presented the Swach Hospital Award, Award for Community Oncology, and Medical Education.

The World Health Organization (WHO) awarded BBCI for Tobacco Control activities and established WHO South East Asia Regional Practice Network for Childhood Cancer, as one of the four centers in India. Under his leadership, the Government of India has sanctioned the Prime Minister's Development of North East India scheme for establishment of a dedicated adult and childhood blood cancers center. Dr.Kataki was instrumental in taking over the BBCI by the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India, as a Unit of Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai in November 2017. The takeover of BBCI by the DAE will remain as the watershed moment in the long history of the institute.

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