After 25-year wait, Delhi’s Lady Hardinge Medical College opens radiation therapy facility

Medical Director Dr Subhash Giri said that with the new High Dose Rate Brachytherapy equip- ment on ground floor and CT- Simulator unit on the first floor of the block, the medical college will now be able to provide much needed radiotherapy serv- ices to the cancer patients. “The modern radiotherapy techniques require accurate in- formation about the tumor as well as surrounding structures during radiation planning for targeting the cancers. The CT- Simulator machine is used for image-based planning of highly conformal radiotherapy treat- ment which helps in targeting the tumor and sparing the nor- mal structures,” he said.

The radiation therapy will be provided to patients suffering from cervical, uterine, prostate, breast and other cancers. The brachytherapy treatment is ef- fective at destroying the cancer cells while minimizing damage to surrounding normal tissue.

Dr Giri said the new equipment was purchased at Rs 13 crore and will be a boon for poor cancer patients, who are not able to afford radiation therapy treat- ment at private hospitals. “There are very few govern- ment hospitals with the radia- tion therapy facility and they have very long waiting times, during which their disease often progresses,” he said

He said a High Energy Linear Accelerator (LINAC) machine for External Beam Radiation Therapy (EBRT) will also become functional in LHMC’s Radiation Oncology Block for treatment of wider range of cancer patients in the coming days. A few days ago the new IPD block and the Accident and Emergency block were also made fully functional along with a 3 Tesla MRI system and a Central Laboratory in the IPD block.