Patna: The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)-Patna will provide free screening for various types of cancer from February 5 to February 10 to mark World Cancer Day that falls on February 4.

Oncologists at the premier hospital will do clinical examination of patients and if required free screening will be provided to the patients for various cancers, including breast, colon, prostate, ovarian and cervical cancers.

"Not all patients who will come to our department will be screened for various cancers. We would do their clinical examination and only if we find it necessary for tests, we would get them screened. The free screening would be done for selected cancers only. We would conduct thorough clinical examination of patients to detect lumps in their other body parts to detect if they have other types of cancer for which free screening would not be available," said head of the radiotherapy department of AIIMS-Patna Pritanjali Singh.

She added that the weeklong screening would definitely be a boon for cancer patients because the tests are expensive at private health facilities.

"At AIIMS-Patna though we provide the tests at subsidised rates, from February 5 to February 10, the diagnosis would be done for free," Singh said.

While at private facilities, mammography test, which is used for detecting breast cancer, is available at around Rs 1,200, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) test to detect colon cancer and cancer antigen (CA)-125 test to detect ovarian cancer is available at something around Rs 400-Rs 700 each, while PSA test (to detect prostate cancer) is available at Rs 1,000.

"Apart from clinical examination of patients and providing free screening to them in cases wherein screening is required, we would also make patients aware about the symptoms of different types of cancer. In case they are not suffering from cancer they can help prevent themselves suffer from the cancer by taking precautions."

AIIMS-Patna would also organise an awareness programme at Central University of South Bihar on February 7.

AIIMS-Patna would also start radiation therapy for cancer patients between June-July.

"We are going to get high-energy linear accelerator machine and Brachytherapy machine in the next two months, with which we would start providing radiation to the cancer patients.

Right now radiation therapy is not available for cancer patients at the hospital. However, it would take time in the installation of the machines once they arrive at the institute," added Pritanjali.

She said: "We are expecting the machines to be functional by June or July after which we would start radiation therapy for cancer patients here. While the linear accelerator machine, which would cost around Rs 20 crore, the Brachytherapy machine would cost Rs 3 crore.

We are also going to get one computed tomography (CT), simulator machine worth Rs 2 crore, which would help in the diagnosis of the cancer. The machine helps to detect cancer in the body part so that the radiation therapy could be targeted on the cancer cells," added Pritanjali.