Abstract
Dr. Akshay Nadkarni-the youngest oncosurgeon cum entrepreneur-was formally inaugurated in March 2021 by his mother late Dr. Purnima Nadkarni, which was the culmination of a vision of Dr. Akshay Nadkarni who wanted to bring advanced comprehensive cancer care to Rural Gujarat. He is a gold medalist surgeon and did his MS, DNB from Manipal and Laparoscopic Cancer Surgery Fellowship from Pune under Dr. Shailesh Puntambekar. The ultimate inspiration for the cancer initiative came after the fellowship in oncology from Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, where he was moved by the plight of thousands of suffering cancer patients who thronged there from all parts of the country. Having honed his onco-skills, he joined Nadkarni and 21st Century Group of Hospitals-our family enterprise in 2011. Hard work, factory visits, innumerable cancer check-up camps, lectures, and awareness programs, crisscrossing entire South Gujarat, UT of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and northern Maharashtra, marked the 1st 8 years of his onco-practice which created a huge patient base. Practically all types of cancer surgeries, e.g., head-neck, abdomen, breast, and renal, were performed. The addition of different government schemes increased the patient volume. Chemotherapies were also given as the services of a medical oncologist were made available. Having created this patient base and realizing the need for all facilities under one roof, this advanced cancer center with a radiation unit (Halcyon Varian) was set up in a single vertical building with CT scan, X-ray, USG, invasive procedures, biopsies, frozen section-state-of-the-art modular OT with 4 K Karl Storz Camera, with the complete team of radiation onco-, med onco-, surgical team, and immunotherapist, which was set up in record time (bunker set up in 3 months amidst the COVID pandemic). This was done under the banner of Nadkarni Medical Foundation so that free and subsidized services could be given to the rural population. The Tumor Board meets regularly every 15 days, and all cases are reviewed comprehensively. With such a large body of work and successful patients over 6000 onco-surgery and 10,000 chemotherapy in 8 years and 850 patients of radiation over 2 years, the 21st Century Cancer Care Center is a shining star on the onco-horizon of the country, particularly South Gujarat.