Cuttack: Cancer patients in need of radiation treatment here have been affected after one of the two linear accelerators (LINACs) used for radiotherapy stopped functioning for over a week at the Acharya Harihar Regional Cancer Centre here.

The LINAC is an advanced device used in cancer treatment. These identify the damaged cells and apply radiotherapy properly so that it kills only the cancer cells without destroying the healthy ones.

The cancer centre uses two old cobalt machines and two state-of-the-art LINAC equipment - one of them with low-energy capacity and another with high-energy capacity - for radiation treatment.

Centre director Lalatendu Sarangi told The Telegraph that the four equipments were used for radiation treatment to nearly 370 patients a day.

"But with the high-energy LINAC not functioning, it is not possible to treat cancer patients who need high-energy radiation and continuous doses for 25 days or more," he conceded.

"Our capacity to treat patients has come has come down to around 300 a day," he said.

The high-energy LINAC stopped functioning after its UPS was burnt by a lightning strike a week ago. "We have placed an order to replace the UPS. The new one is expected to be in place by Tuesday," the centre director said.

The patients who need of continuous high-energy doses for 25 days have been hit the most, especially because no other health care centre provides the treatment at a such cheap rates.

The state-run unit charges Rs 25,000 as users' fee for a 25-day radiation treatment course. But the same treatment costs Rs 1 Lakh to Rs 1.25 lakh in private hospitals.

In Odisha, only a few of private hospitals in Bhuban-eswar offer radiotherapy through LINACs.

The two LINACs along with a computerised tomography simulator were installed at the cancer centre for Rs 50 crore in 2016.