Cancer patients from the economically weaker sections of society in Bihar can soon avail of better diagnostic facilities at Mahavir Cancer Sansthan.
Come February 24, the hospital will inaugurate a position emission tomography (PET) scan machine (worth around Rs 8 crore) to detect malignancy in any body part.
Chief minister Nitish Kumar would inaugurate the facility. The cancer hospital has been able to make the facility available with the help of Rs 13 crore it received from the state government. Nitish had announced that the necessary funds would be given to the hospital during its 15th foundation day programme in 2013 after which the government kept its promise.
According to Mahavir Cancer Sansthan officials, poor patients would be greatly benefited because the service will be available at half the market charge. But the concession will be given to only patients belonging to below poverty line families and whose annual income is less than Rs 2.5 lakh.
The development is significant because no government hospital in the state has a PET scan machine, depriving poor patients. Even the state's premier government hospital, Patna Medical College and Hospital, does not have the machine. It provides radiation therapy to cancer patients with its age-old cobalt machine.
Paras HMRI Hospital in Patna became the first private facility to install the state-of-the-art diagnostic machine three years ago.
Mahavir Cancer Sansthan hospital superintendent L.B. Singh said the cost of full body diagnosis using the PET-CT machine varies between Rs 22,000 and Rs 25,000 but Mahavir Cancer Sansthan would charge only Rs 12,000 from cancer patients from BPL families. "Patients just need to show their income certificates to the hospital to avail the test at a subsidised price," he said.
Singh said the best thing about the machine unlike other cancer diagnosis machines was that it can detect malignancy in any body part. "The main problem with the deadly disease is that it spreads from one body part to another quickly, which is called metastasis. But with this machine, malignancy in any body part can be detected while with other machines, we can detect malignancy only in some particular region," said Singh.
Talking about how the PET scan machine works, he said: "It scans the entire body by injecting a radioactive glucose, termed F-18 FD, into the patient. The scanner detects the radiation emitted inside the body of the patient and the computer generates three-dimensional images of the tissue function or cell activity in the tissues of the body. Based on assessment of the cell activities under the influence of radioactive elements, the PET CT machine gives its diagnosis. Such scans are helpful in monitoring the effectiveness of chemotherapy as well," he added.
"Mahavir Cancer Sansthan will also inaugurate gamma camera, linear accelerator and diagnostic facilities to detect thyroid cancer shortly," said Singh.
