National Cancer Grid of India
A network of more than 360 Indian cancer centres, run from Tata Memorial, that agrees common treatment guidelines, buys cancer drugs together at a fraction of list price and runs shared tumour boards and trials.
Overview
The National Cancer Grid was set up by the Tata Memorial Centre with support from the Department of Atomic Energy to give every Indian patient the same standard of care wherever they are treated. Its secretariat sits at Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, and its membership has grown to a network of more than 360 cancer centres, research institutes, patient groups and charities across India.
The Grid publishes resource-stratified NCG guidelines, runs virtual tumour boards, an e-learning portal and quality programmes (EQAS and EQUIP), trains oncologists in research methods through the CReDO workshops (more than 250 trained since 2015) and issued India's Choosing Wisely list of low-value practices. Its pooled procurement pilot pooled demand for 40 anticancer drugs from 23 centres worth about 15.6 billion rupees at maximum retail price and cut the bill by about 13.2 billion rupees, with savings of 23% to 99% per drug (median 82%). A national electronic medical record initiative for cancer centres followed in 2025. The NCG is the practical backbone of Indian cancer care and the reason low-cost trial results from Mumbai spread quickly across the country.
- NCG treatment guidelines
- Pooled drug procurement
- Virtual tumour boards
- CReDO research methods workshops
- Choosing Wisely India
- Cancer EMR initiative
The surgeon who built the National Cancer Grid into a network of hundreds of Indian cancer centres and used its buying power to cut cancer drug prices by a median of 82%.
Sudeep Gupta leads India's largest cancer centre and its programme of pragmatic, affordable trials.
A surgeon-scientist whose low-cost randomised trials, from peritumoral lidocaine to timing of surgery, challenged assumptions in breast cancer.
Pages like this
not linked directly; found by shared links- InstitutionNational Cancer Registry Programme (ICMR-NINE, Bengaluru)
Shares Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, Cancer Institute (WIA), Adyar, Cancer registries and population surveillance, Data silos.
- InstitutionTata Trusts
Shares Tata Medical Center, Kolkata, Tata Memorial Centre, Fragmented care and guideline gaps, Most of the world has almost no cancer care.
- PersonRatan Tata
Shares Tata Medical Center, Kolkata, Tata Memorial Centre, Fragmented care and guideline gaps, Most of the world has almost no cancer care.
- PersonV. Shanta
Shares Cancer Institute (WIA), Adyar, Cancer registries and population surveillance, Global oncology and access in low- and middle-income countries.
- IdeaBurden-matched funding for trials led in low- and middle-income countries
Shares Rajendra Badwe, Sudeep Gupta, Tata Memorial Centre, Most of the world has almost no cancer care.
- IdeaGive subcutaneous immunotherapy in community clinics and at home
Shares Not enough oncologists, nurses, pathologists, physicists, Fragmented care and guideline gaps, Prices and value, Most of the world has almost no cancer care.
- Key paperCancer Statistics, 2020: Report from National Cancer Registry Programme, India
Shares National Health Authority (Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY), Cancer registries and population surveillance, Data silos.
- IdeaPivotal trials include sites in Africa, South Asia and Latin America, sponsor-funded
Shares Sudeep Gupta, Tata Memorial Centre, Most of the world has almost no cancer care.