Tata Memorial Centre

The Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH) situated in Parel, Mumbai, is a cancer institute. It is an autonomous institution under the administrative control of Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India.

History and current scope
The Tata Memorial Hospital was initially commissioned by the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust on 28 February 1941 for the advancement of learning and research, disaster relief and other philanthropic activities ‘without any distinction of place, nationality or creed’. The death of Dorabji's wife Meherbai due to leukemia spurred him to create a center dedicated to researching the disease. In 1952, the Indian Cancer Research Centre was established as a research institute for basic research—later called the Cancer Research Institute (CRI). The Ministry of Health took over the Tata Memorial Hospital in 1957. Administrative control of both TMH and CRI was then transferred to the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) in 1962, and these two arms merged to form the ‘Tata Memorial Center' (TMC) in 1966, with a mandate for service, education and research in cancer.

The Advanced Center for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC) at Kharghar was inaugurated in 2002, and now houses the CRI and the Clinical Research Center (CRC) (inaugurated in 2005), a state-of-the-art research hospital.

TMC has expanded its outreach across the country with nodal centers established at multiple places across the country, following the ‘hub and spoke’ model. These together register about 120,000 new cancer patients every year. Currently (as in 2024), TMC comprises of the following centres:


 * Tata Memorial Hospital, Parel, Mumbai
 * ACTREC, Kharghar, Navi Mumbai
 * Centre for Cancer Epidemiology (CCE), Kharghar, Navi Mumbai
 * Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (HBCH&RC), Visakhapatnam, Andhra Prades
 * Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital (HBCH), Sangrur, Punjab
 * Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (HBCH&RC), Mullanpur, Punjab
 * Dr. Bhubaneswar Borooah Cancer Institute (BBCI), Guwahati, Assam
 * Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital (HBCH), Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
 * Mahamana Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya Cancer Centre (MPMMCC), Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
 * Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital & Research Centre (HBCH & RC), Muzaffarpur, Bihar

Patient care
The Department of Surgical Oncology provides minimal access surgeries, skull-base procedures, major vascular replacements, limb salvage, microvascular surgery and robotic surgeries. The department conducts investigator-initiated and sponsored research studies.

One of the fields of specialization of this hospital is in the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (A.L.L). Every year nearly 30,000 new patients visit the clinics from all over India and neighboring countries. Nearly 60% of these cancer patients receive primary care at the Hospital of which over 70% are treated almost free of any charges. Over 1,000 patients attend the OPD daily for medical advice or for follow-up treatment. During the year 2003, over 20,000 new cases were registered in addition to over 13,000 Referral Cards issued for only special investigations. Nearly 8,500 major operations are performed annually and 5,000 patients treated with Radiotherapy and Chemotherapy annually in multi-disciplinary programmes delivering established treatments.

The TMH was the first Centre in the country to initiate Bone Marrow Transplant in 1983. PET-CT scanner has been procured to make this technology available for cancer management. In an effort to provide access to patients and their families who lack access or the means to visit the hospital, TMH has started an initiative to provide an online expert opinion through Navya.

Preventive oncology
The Department of Preventive Oncology which was commissioned in the year 1993, gives a special focus on education in cancer prevention and early detection, cancer screening. Of the 2–2.5 million cases of cancer in the country, more than 70% of cases are detected late and report for treatment in very advanced stages. The emphasis on early detection would go a long way to dealing with the large numbers as well as to mitigate avoidable suffering and a financial burden.

ACTREC
The Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research, and Education in Cancer (ACTREC) is a new R&D satellite of the Tata Memorial Centre (TMC). It has the mandate to function as a national center for treatment, education, and research in cancer.

ACTREC comprises two arms—a basic research arm constituted by the erstwhile Cancer Research Institute (CRI) which has shifted from the Parel Campus to the new location in August 2002, and a Clinical Research Centre (CRC), The latter comprises a 50-bed research hospital which is equipped with diagnostic and therapeutic facilities. In the first phase, the focus will be on Pediatric Oncology and emerging therapies, including gene therapy.

Research investigations at CRI currently focus on molecular mechanisms responsible for the causation of major human cancers relevant to India. It is envisaged that in the future, ACTREC will play a greater role in drug development and emerging therapies for treatment and prevention of cancer.

The radiotherapy at ACTREC is equipped with a dual-energy linear accelerator, IMRT, stereotactic therapy and HDU-brachytherapy units. The centre is committed to carrying out clinical trials under GCP conditions, including Phase I/II trials for investigational new drugs. In addition, the centre would specialize in cancer genetics including counseling and genetic testing and molecular pathology.

National Cancer Grid (NCG)
The National Cancer Grid is a network of major cancer centers, research institutes, patient groups and charitable institutions across India with the mandate of establishing uniform standards of patient care for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer, providing specialized training and education in oncology and facilitating collaborative basic, translational and clinical research in cancer.

There are over 300 NCG centres across India and other countries.

Koita Centre for Digital Oncology
The Koita Centre for Digital Oncology (KCDO) was established in August 2022 in collaboration with Koita Foundation. KCDO supports NCG and NCG affiliated hospitals to adopt digital health tools with the objective of improving the quality, affordability, accessibility and outcomes of cancer care.

Tata Clinic
A 12-story block "The Tata Clinic and Faculty Block" has recently been constructed on the premises vacated by the CRI. This facility will house site specialty clinics, 50 additional beds, Minor theatre complex, daycare beds, academic offices, postgraduate education, seminar rooms, and a Telemedicine Centre. It is renamed as "Homi Bhabha Block"

Education
The Tata Memorial Centre is a recognised training centre for cancer education and research by national and international organisations such as WHO, IAEA and UICC. Tata Memorial Hospital is a post-graduate teaching centre and is affiliated to the University of Mumbai, National Board of Examinations and Maharashtra University of Health Sciences. Every year about 80 post-graduate students register with the centre for doing their Master's or Doctorate courses. There are about 400 students undergoing training every year in medical and non-medical fields in long and short term courses.

Digital Library
The Library of the Tata Memorial Hospital has been maintained since the inception of the hospital. It was relocated on 17 November 2000, on the ground floor of the main building now known as Digital Library. It caters to the needs of clinicians, nurses, other paramedical staff, medical administrators, and visitors from other hospitals, health care industries, academic institutions from all over the country.

Konark Cancer Foundation
Set up by the Neurosurgeon, B. K. Misra, Cardiac surgeon, Ramakanta Panda and former Police Commissioner of Mumbai, Arup Patnaik, Konark Cancer Foundation is an NGO for patients coming to the Tata Memorial Hospital for treatment, providing them with financial support of up to INR 1 lac per patient, logistical support such as finding food and shelter for their attendants, providing other voluntary support, collecting and donating blood, medications and prosthesis. Around 10,000 patients and their families have been benefited since its inception.