Western India's cancer patients just gained a powerful new ally. Union Health Minister J. P. Nadda on Monday, November 2, 2026, hailed the launch of advanced radiotherapy services at AIIMS Rajkot in Gujarat as a landmark step in India's public healthcare journey, reaffirming the government's commitment to delivering high-quality, timely treatment to every citizen.

In his post, Nadda wrote — 'AIIMS Rajkot mein advance radiotherapy ki shuruaat desh ki swasthya sewaon mein ek bada kadam hai' — 'The launch of advanced radiotherapy at AIIMS Rajkot is a major step in the country's health services.' He added that the government's resolve is to ensure every individual receives high-quality treatment on time, and that western India is equipped with better healthcare facilities.

AIIMS Rajkot's Place in India's Tertiary-Care Expansion

AIIMS Rajkot is one of several new All India Institutes of Medical Sciences established under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY), a flagship central scheme first launched in 2006 to address deep regional imbalances in tertiary healthcare access. The scheme was designed to build AIIMS-like institutions in states that had long remained underserved by the country's specialist medical infrastructure.

The addition of advanced radiotherapy — one of the most resource-intensive and technically demanding cancer treatments — signals that AIIMS Rajkot has crossed a critical threshold in its phased operationalisation. For patients in Gujarat and neighbouring states, access to such services at a public institution could dramatically reduce the need to travel to distant metros like Mumbai or New Delhi for oncology care.

Bridging the Oncology Gap in Western India

Cancer treatment infrastructure in India has historically been concentrated in a handful of large cities. Radiotherapy, in particular, demands expensive linear accelerators and trained radiation oncologists — resources that public hospitals outside major metros have rarely commanded. The commissioning of such a unit at AIIMS Rajkot directly addresses that gap for a region home to tens of millions of people.

Successive central governments have progressively upgraded the newer AIIMS beyond basic services, adding super-speciality departments in phases as institutions mature. Radiotherapy units at newly established AIIMS have become a key benchmark in that rollout, watched closely by health planners as a signal of genuine operational readiness.

With several other recently established AIIMS still in various stages of building out their specialised departments, the Rajkot milestone sets a bar — and a template — for what full-spectrum oncology care at a public institution can look like outside the country's metros.