Safdarjung Hospital Starts Radiotherapy For Cancer Patients After 1.5 Years

Bringing relief to cancer patients, Safdarjung hospital started its radiotherapy department after one and a half year. Around 10 patients got the radioactive treatment on Thursday. It was in 2015 when the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) had asked the Safdarjung Hospital to shut down the radiotherapy services for not complying with the board's directives on safety measures. The patients who approached Safdarjung for treatment, were sent to AIIMS, LNJP and Delhi State Cancer Institute. Many also chose to go to private hospitals.

Dr AK Rai, director, Safdarjung Hospital informed Mail Today, "It was very unfortunate that we had to shut down the radiotherapy department in 2015 on the orders of AERB, but today, we got the approval again to make the department functional. We have appointed a fresh radiological safety officer. For now, we are starting with a single machine - Cobalt-60. Our two radiotherapy machines are condemned, so we have written to the higher authorities for latest LINAC (Liner Accelerator)."

News reports stated that according to AERB's pervious order, the hospital had not fixed the issues, including nonrenewal of licence for operation and non-availability of working. On an average, the hospital gets around 30 patients in a day and over 120 in a week for radiation therapy but as it does not have a treatment planning system (TPS) for precise administration of dosage and cobalt-60 machines for radiotherapy services for the last several years, the problem persists.

Sources stated that India currently reports around 11 lakh new cancer cases and five lakh deaths due to lack of treatment or delayed diagnosis.