Rs 3.5 crore for cancer treatment machine

PATNA: The

Patna Medical College

and Hospital (

PMCH

) will soon get a brachytherapy or internal radiation machine for treatment of cancer patients.

Hospital sources said the Centre sanctioned around Rs 3.5 crore for the machine two months ago. Cancer patients can avail of the radiation therapy for free at the hospital.

The sources said on Friday the machine would arrive at the hospital by next month. PMCH’s radiology department HoD Dr P N

Pandit

said the Bihar Medical Services & Infrastructure Corporation had already initiated the process to purchase the machine.

Brachytherapy places radioactive sources inside the patient on a temporary or permanent basis to damage cancer cells and can be used to treat cancer in any part of the body.

The PMCH last year had also received Rs 39 crore for procuring a linear accelerator, cobalt-60 and CT simulator. The sources said the full cancer treatment facility would be in place at the hospital by March 2019.

The hospital already has a cobalt teletherapy machine for external radiation therapy. It was installed in 2002 and had started functioning in 2003, but had become defunct in 2013.

“Initially, there was no physicist-cum-radiation safety officer (RSO) in the department to operate the machine. An RSO was appointed in 2016, but by that time the output of the cobalt teletherapy machine was below 50%. The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, Mumbai asked us to change the source of the machine,” Dr Pandit said and added two more RSOs were appointed recently.

Meanwhile, the

Medical Council of India

(MCI) discontinued the PG course in radiotherapy at PMCH in 2007 due to several shortcomings. “Now that things are moving positively, we will apply afresh to the MCI for at least eight PG seats for the department,” Dr Pandit said.


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