Patna: Radiation therapy has been resumed at Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) after five years.

Two patients, a man from Muzaffarpur and a woman from Chhapra, were given radiation therapy - which uses high dose of radiation to kill cancerous cells - on Monday.

"The cobalt machine through which patients were being provided radiation therapy had been lying defunct at the hospital since 2013 because there was 50 per cent fall in the production of gamma rays and the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) had disallowed the PMCH from using the cobalt machine as the radiation therapy would have been inaccurate," said Dr P.N. Pandit, head of the hospital's radiotherapy department.

He added: "The state government earlier this year sanctioned Rs 95 lakh for the correction of the technical problem of the machine. After getting the machine repaired, we had applied for the quality assurance certificate from the AERB two months ago. The AERB had suggested modifications which we implemented, and finally we have been given quality assurance certificate from the board to use the machine."

He said the lack of radiation therapy at PMCH had hit underprivileged cancer patients especially hard.

"The Grade A hospitals charge Rs 1.5 lakh and Grade B hospitals charge something around Rs 50,000 to Rs 60,000 while government hospital like Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences charge about Rs 5,000 for around one-and-a-half-months' radiation course but here at PMCH the radiation therapy would be provided free of cost," he said.

Pandit said in the past five years chemotherapy and onco-surgery were, however, on. He said the hospital was going to get another machine, called brachytherapy machine, worth around Rs 3.5 crore next month.

"The machine places radioactive sources inside the patient on a temporary or permanent basis to damage cancerous cells' DNA and their ability to divide and grow. The arrival of the machine would help us get a nod from Medical Council of India (MCI) for starting the MD course in radiotherapy. The MCI had discontinued admission in the MD course due to problem in the brachytherapy machine," said Pandit.

The PMCH was among the first few hospitals in the country to start cancer treatment - in 1928 with the starting of the Radium Institute. Earlier film-stars and even people from the Gulf countries would come to the hospital for cancer treatment, added Pandit.