Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said the construction of the institute was already 97 days ahead of schedule.
 
"I am delighted that the construction is already ahead of time and, hopefully, the institute can be completed early so that we can start providing services for the patients,"  he told reporters after a topping up ceremony and a visit to the construction site of the 252-bed health facility.
 
One of the aims of the National Cancer Control Blueprint, that was launched in 2008, was to have a national cancer institute to facilitate and provide comprehensive care for cancer patients in the country.
 
"The institute will be the first in the country. Aside from providing comprehensive care, it will also be a national referral centre and a centre of excellence for cancer treatment in Malaysia," Liow said.
 
The institute is also slated to be a research and development facility.
 
Liow said more cancer specialists would be trained and placed at the institute as cancer research was ongoing and there were now new treatments, instruments and medicines.
 
Stressing on the importance of early detection of the disease, he said the institute would be providing screening and early detection programmes for the public.
 
He said the percentage of deaths due to cancer had increased to 11.8 per cent in 2010 compared with 7.3 per cent in 1975.
 
On the RM1 million theft of medicines at Hospital Kuala Lumpur recently, Liow said the ministry had taken swift action and wanted to prevent it from happening again.
 
"Internal auditing will be conducted and tighter security and procedure must be in place to prevent such theft."
 
Liow urged the police to solve the case quickly so that the stolen medicine could be returned for analysis to determine if it could be used.
 
Works Minister Datuk Seri Shaziman Abu Mansor, who was also present, praised the project contractors for their performance.
 
"The ministry is happy that the high-impact project is ahead of time and the contractors have been very responsible, especially in terms of safety, because they  managed to record 1.4 million working hours without accidents."  
 
He said the institute was the ministry's pilot project using the building information modelling  system.

Read more: National Cancer Institute ready by Aug 31, 2013 - General - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general/national-cancer-institute-ready-by-aug-31-2013-1.28536#ixzz2IWWd4Bah