It shall be the duty of the state director of health to formulate a plan for the care and treatment of indigent persons suffering from cancer and to establish and designate standard requirements for the organization, equipment, and conduct of cancer units or departments in general hospitals of this state. The state director of health shall consult with physicians designated by the president of the Rhode Island Medical Society, with other interested organizations, and with any other experts or nonexperts wherever located that he or she may deem proper with a view to carrying out the purposes of this chapter and with a view to establishing a minimum standard for the conduct and equipment of cancer units or departments in general hospitals in those parts or districts of the state as may, in the opinion of the state director of health, be deemed most advantageous to the public health.