Kerala - Alappuzha   

Cancer patients face hardship

ALAPPUZHA: The absence of specialist doctors in the cobalt therapy unit of the Oncology department in the T.D. Medical College Hospital at Vandanam has hit cancer patients here badly.

The department’s travails over the shortage of qualified hands began nearly a year ago when the professor post for the department fell vacant in April 2006.

Although senior oncologist Jose Tom was officiating as the head of the department, he was transferred to Thrissur in June 2007 and Dr. K.V. Mohan took over as in-charge of the department. However, with Dr. Mohan proceeding on leave and set to retire in April 2008, the wing is once again looking at a blank future.

According to hospital sources, an assistant professor working on deputation along with Dr. Mohan was transferred to Thiruvananthapuram recently. “At present there is no qualified hand in the department to handle the large number of patients from Alappuzha and surrounding districts,” the sources said.

K.S. Manoj, MP, has urged the State government to immediately appoint a specialist doctor at least to the cobalt therapy unit so that the patients, more than hundred a day, who approach the unit for treatment were not put to hardship.

In a statement on Friday, Dr. Manoj said the absence of specialist doctors and technicians in the unit had also led to the costly equipment in the unit becoming defunct. The equipments had developed technical snags six months ago, leading to the complete stoppage of treatment in the department for more than a month. Now, with the equipments in working condition, there is no qualified person to help patients obtain the benefit, the MP said.

The Oncology department at the Medical College receives around 1,300 fresh cases of various types of cancer every year. With the hospice having one of the only 300 tele-therapy machines available in the country, patients requiring the therapy come here from across the district and surrounding areas as well.

These patients are now forced to approach private hospitals in Ernakulam and Kottayam leading to inconvenience as well as a huge financial burden.

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