Punjab Chief Minister . Parkash Singh Badal today said that in order to tackle the menace of cancer in the districts of Malwa region, the state government in co-operation with an NGO Roko Cancer would hold free mega camps for detection of the disease in the region. Talking to the media persons here today at his residence after flagging off a Multi Specialty van to detect cancer, the Chief Minister said that this was the fifth van of Roko Cancer which would concentrate extensively in the Malwa region of the state to diagnose the cases of this fatal disease. He said that this van equipped with ultra modern facilities would not only diagnose cancer amongst the people but would also create awareness amongst them because ‘Cancer is curable, if detected in time’. Badal said that with the active co-operation of the state government, the NGO had already covered 70% of the Doaba Region of the state for this purpose adding that now Roko Cancer would be organizing free Mega Camps for detection of cancer in Malwa region. The Chief Minister said that apart from conducting Mammography of the patients this van would also conduct free tests for detecting Blood Pressure, Diabetes and Heart related diseases. However Badal mourned that there was a general trend amongst the people to ignore or hide the health related problems, which leads them to a miserable condition. So he said that it was the need of the hour to make people aware about the symptoms of fatal diseases especially that of cancer, by launching such awareness drives. Reiterating the firm commitment of the state government to eradicate this fatal disease from the roadmap of the state, the Chief Minister said that two new cancer hospitals would be opened shortly in the state for this purpose. Likewise he said that a special hospital would be also opened by the NGO in Moga district to treat the patients suffering from the disease. Badal said that the state government has already constituted a corpus fund of Rs 20 crore for helping the patients of Cancer under which a patient is given a financial assistance of Rs 1.5 lakh for his treatment by the state government. Lauding the efforts made by the state government for curbing the menace of cancer from the Punjab, the Global Ambassador of Roko Cancer, Kulwant Singh Dhaliwal said that the NGO would soon launch a drive to distribute 80 lakh free gloves, especially designed for detecting breast cancer amongst the females, to the educated women in the state. Prominent amongst those present on the occasion included former Minister and MLA Jathedar Tota Singh and Special Principal Secretary to Chief Minister KJS Cheema.