Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Tuesday launched a new health scheme under which cancer patients in the State will be provided chemotherapy drugs free of cost. Speaking at a function held on the occasion at the Dr. B. Borooah Cancer Institute here, Mr. Gogoi said the government decided to provide the medicines to all cancer patients, irrespective of their economic status, as some of the drugs were very expensive. According to Mr. Gogoi, the financial aid being given to cancer patients often failed to serve the purpose as the treatment cost went up to several lakhs. Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that with the new scheme Assam would become the first State to provide chemotherapy drugs free of cost to patients. He said the drugs had been made available to the Dr. B. Borooah Cancer Institute and the three medical colleges and urged the authorities of these institutes to ensure that cancer patients benefited from the new scheme. Dr. Sarma said the scheme was launched within 15 days of its announcement in the budget speech. The Health Department provided 68 different chemotherapy drugs identified by the Cancer Institute and the list would be gradually enlarged. He said the State had initiated a similar scheme under which pacemakers were provided free of cost to poor patients. Director of the Cancer Institute A.C. Kataky said the incidence of cancer was very high in the north east.