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The waiting begins long before the outpatient department at Hyderabad’s Mehdi Nawaz Jung Institute of Oncology and Regional Cancer Centre — commonly known as MNJ
The waiting begins long before the outpatient department at Hyderabad’s Mehdi Nawaz Jung Institute of Oncology and Regional Cancer Centre — commonly known as MNJ Cancer Hospital — opens its doors. By mid-morning, the hospital is already teeming with patients. Cars, two-wheelers and ambulances jostle for every available parking space as people, many accompanied by anxious family members, make their way towards the outpatient block carrying thick bundles of medical records, scan reports and medicine packets. Some have travelled overnight from districts hundreds of kilometres away, while others have been referred from government hospitals that lack specialised oncology services. Every seat inside the outpatient block is occupied. Those who arrive late settle on the steps outside, inching forward as the queues move. Across from the entrance, the public toilets emit an unpleasant odour, adding to the discomfort of patients already bracing themselves for a long day. The crowds grow denser with each step inside. Long queues snake towards the registration counters while an even larger gathering waits outside the radiation oncology section. Despite the congestion, there is little impatience. For many, this is not their first visit. “My mother was diagnosed with brain tumour about two years ago. We first went to Osmania General Hospital, Hyderabad, but she was referred here. Since then, we have been coming regularly. The doctors are good and we get medicines from the hospital pharmacy,” says 26-year-old Mohammed Usman, a resident of Moula Ali in the city. Among those waiting is 44-year-old Shekhar from Adilabad, watching as his son checks on the schedule for his next radiotherapy session. “I was diagnosed with mouth cancer last year, possibly due to chewing gutka. We went to a government hospital in our district, but they said such cases are treated only in Hyderabad. It is crowded here, but treatment that would cost lakhs at a private hospital is available free here,” he says. For thousands, MNJ is far more than Telangana’s largest government cancer hospital. It is the last stop in a referral chain stretching across the State and into neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. The crowds that fill its corridors each day speak not only of the growing burden of cancer but also of a healthcare system still centred around a handful of specialised facilities in Hyderabad, a reality the government now hopes to better understand through its first comprehensive cancer registry. According to the Telangana Cancer Atlas, prepared using data from the Rajiv Aarogyasri Health Care Trust between April 2020 and September 2025, more than 1,00,294 unique cancer patients received treatment under the State’s flagship health insurance scheme over the five-and-a-half-year period, averaging about 18,235 patients annually.
The BriefWire