Kerala - Alappuzha   

Cancer patients in distress in hospital

Dennis Marcus Mathew

ALAPPUZHA: A popular agitation is taking shape in protest against the non-availability of the crucial tele-therapy for cancer patients at the T.D. Medical College, Vandanam, here, for 19 months now.

The Department of Oncology of the medical college receives around 1,300 fresh cases of various types of cancer every year. Only 300 tele-therapy machines are available in the country and the department is in possession of one of them. Patients requiring the therapy (external radiation that is used for most cancers) come here from across the district and surrounding areas.

According to Jose Tom, head of the department, the tele-therapy unit at the hospital uses Cobalt 60 as the source for radiation. The unit was installed in 1993 and it started functioning in 1994. With the dosimeter, used to regulate the dosage of radiation administered on the patient, becoming defunct, the facility was stopped in October 2005.

``The dosimeter, which was repaired three times, has to be calibrated by the Baba Atomic Research Centre (BARC) before going for clearance from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB). In February this year too, the device was sent to BARC for calibration, but was sent back because it was still faulty. The next date they have given us for calibration is July 2. So we have to send the dosimeter again for repair to Bangalore,''Dr. Tom said. The hospital authorities are now referring all the patients for therapy to Ernakulam and Kottayam, causing inconvenience and financial burden to the patients.

The issue has now been taken up by Janakiya Kootaima, a local voluntary organisation, which is planning to stage a protest in front of the hospital on Thursday, Kootaima chairman H. Subair and general convener Rajesh Kesavan said.

``If the dosimeter is faulty, the State Government should make arrangements for a new one, which could cost around Rs.10 lakh. Even a proposal sent for a cancer centre to be set up at the TD Medical College has not seen any progress. All this is causing untold misery to several thousands of cancer patients in the district,'' they say.

Dr. Tom said a Rs.18.1-crore proposal for the Cancer Centre had been revised and sent to the Government again on Wednesday. ``But that is a major project, a time-consuming one. We are trying our best to get the dosimeter repaired before that. It is quite a piquant situation but it's not our fault,'' he adds.

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