Aurangabad: Cancer hospitals in the country are full of patients and time has come to find ways to prevent the deadly disease among people, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday.

Talking about the coronavirus pandemic, he said transportation of oxygen from other states to places where the life-saving gas was required for patients was a big challenge during the second wave.

The Minister of Road Transport and Highways was speaking at a function organised by the Vivekanand Medical Foundation and Research Centre in adjoining Latur.

Gadkari said, "During the pandemic period, transportation of oxygen and bringing it from other states was a big challenge. We transported empty trucks in aircraft and sent them to Visakhapatnam and brought them filled with oxygen. There were only 17,000 ventilators in the country at that time. That time we could understand lacunae in the health vertical of the country." He stressed on cancer prevention and making its treatment affordable for patients.

"Today somewhere there is a lack of facilities, if we have medicines, they are costly. Treatment and costly tests are not affordable to everyone. Leaders, party activists and people should stand with those who are serving the society.

"Today we see cancer hospitals are overbooked. Earlier, there was one prominent cancer hospital in Mumbai, but now there are many such facilities which have been set up by the Tata group and they also full," Gadkari said.

The minister called for finding ways to cut down risks and prevent different types of cancer among people.

"People reach for treatment after their disease is detected. But now we should find ways s that will prevent people from getting cancers," he said.