Not connected to the Broad-gauge Rail-network, Barak Valley of South Assam is a remote place where modern facilities are neither adequate nor within reach. Unfortunately, it is also one of the most cancer prone regions of India. AIR Correspondent from Silchar reports that the Cachar Cancer Hospital is the only hope for the cancer patients of the three districts of this remote valley.The hospital and research centre was started in 1996 by a voluntary organization at Silchar. Today it has become one of the three specialized hospitals for Cancer patients available in the entire north east India. On an average, twenty to thirty per cent of total patients registered in this hospital every year are new patients. Out of the new patients, thirty five to forty per cent are diagnosed with cancer. About twelve thousand Cancer patients are being treated annually with various treatment and protocols including surgeries every year. More than fifteen thousand patients were treated there in the last year alone. The number of total patients coming to this hospital is increasing every year.Director Dr. Ravi Kannan, a renowned Oncologist is leading the team of ten doctors and about a hundred staff of this 50 bed institution. Not only treatment and cure, they also work for awareness creation for prevention of Cancer in the three districts of Barak Valley. Patients from the neighboring states of Tripura, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and even Arunachal Pradesh have started coming to this hospital for their treatment, reports AIR correspondent.