No ones PET scan
It is seen as a vital piece of equipment in the battle to fight cancer and its availability could save people the trouble of going outside Kashmir to undergo the test.
But like so much else in Kashmir the installation of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scan, at Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) Soura, has fallen prey to intrigue, mismanagement and disagreement between various lobbies whose approval is key to securing the procurement of the machine. According to senior hospital officials the top management is creating obstacles in securing the installation of the machine.
The officials said it was “internal politics” that was preventing the machine from being installed at the hospital.
Earlier this year the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) approved the site at the SKIMS and asked the hospital administration to go ahead with the process but now the higher ups want to relocate the approved site citing reasons best known to them.
“Final selected sites have got approval from AERB from radiation safety point of view but I fail to understand why the hospital administration is not cooperating. When everything has been done why are they thinking of new installation site,” a senior doctor who didn’t want to be named told The Kashmir Monitor. Dr Maqbool Lone, Head Radiation Oncology, SKIMS too blamed local hospital administration for delaying the process of setting up of PET scan facility at the hospital. “We have got the approval of setting PET scan at hospital from AERB and everything has been done. If we will go ahead with it we will have the facility at hospital within two are three months.
But local administration wants to relocate the site which will again mean a lot of delay,” said Lone. Dr Lone added that he had proposed a separate multi-storey facility for the RCC (which is now an SCI) to work efficiently. “We badly require a PET-CT and a Linear Accelerator along with a bone marrow transplant machine and latest surgical oncology equipment; if we are able to get all these, our diagnosis and treatment would substantially improve,” said Dr Lone. “No government or private hospital across J&K has PET Scan, patients have to spend between forty and sixty thousand rupees on travelling outside the state for a PET Scan examination,” said Dr Lone. When asked what PET scan actually does, Lone said, “It shows how organs and tissues are working, and thus will be a great help in diagnosing cancer efficiently and early. It is a must-have for any hospital dealing with cancer patients,” Dr Lone added. As per the AERB guidelines, any health institution looking to install PET-CT has to have its site and layout plan approved. “The user has to submit to AERB two copies each of the proposed layout plan, site plan, and elevation drawing of the facility indicating the floor, nature of occupancy around, above and below. The user has to clearly indicate the dimension of each of the rooms associated with the facility in the proposed layout plan of the Nuclear Medicine department,” reads an excerpt of the AERB guidelines. It is worth to mention that Rs. 47 crore was approved by the union health ministry to buy state-of-the-art equipment that would vastly upgrade the hospital’s capability to diagnose and treat the dreaded disease. The money was the first tranche of the one hundred and twenty crore rupees allotted by New Delhi under National Program for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, CVD & Stroke (NPCDCS). As per the NPCDCS guidelines, a part of the money is to be used for buying vital imaging equipment including Positron Emission Tomography-Computed Tomography (PET-CT) and Linear Accelerator, both machines that the RCC does not have. The RCC was given the status of a State Cancer Institute (SCI) last year and it become entitled to receive such support from the union health ministry. As per the data available on the website of US National Library of Medicine, PET Scan is different and better from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) (machines that are currently used in SKIMS), which show the structure of, and blood flow to and from organs. PET scan uses a radioactive substance called a tracer to look for disease in the body, which is more accurate than most of the earlier available technologies.
In February last year, the Jammu division bench of the State High Court in response to a Public Interest Litigation had directed the Commissioner/ Secretary, Health and Medical Education Department to take effective steps for the installation of the PET Scan machine in all the Government Medical Colleges of the State within a period of six months for providing better diagnostic facility to the cancer patients. At present HDR Brachytherapy, and some earlier acquired cobalt units at SKIMS are the only radiation therapy equipment available for treating cancer patients in the Valley. A senior doctor said the PET scan machine, which generates radiation, can't be installed at a place where there is rush of people.
"The machine has to be installed in isolation as radiation hazard it generates is harmful for the people," he said. Dr. G A Ahangar, the director of the institute, said he was away from Srinagar and would be able to look into it once he was back in the city. Last month, the Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti, had asked the director to expedite the process of securing the installation of the equipment. The hospital, which is the last go-to place for patients suffering from the deadly disease, has witnessed a surge in such patients over the last few years. Data collated in RCC shows that alone in 2014, 3940 patients with different cancers registered with the centre, over 600 more when compared to 2013 registrations. 18391 cancer patients have come to fore in various health institutions across the state with 6300 cases detected in 2013, 7098 in 2014 and 4993 till September last year. The Regional Cancer Centre (RCC) at SKIMS Soura is the highest medical care for cancer patients in Kashmir. Established in 1988, it is one among the 27 RCCs functioning across India. The Centre, however is struggling on two fronts: early diagnosis and lack of latest medical devices, two things that are really holding it back in its fight against cancer.
But like so much else in Kashmir the installation of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scan, at Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) Soura, has fallen prey to intrigue, mismanagement and disagreement between various lobbies whose approval is key to securing the procurement of the machine. According to senior hospital officials the top management is creating obstacles in securing the installation of the machine.
The officials said it was “internal politics” that was preventing the machine from being installed at the hospital.
Earlier this year the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) approved the site at the SKIMS and asked the hospital administration to go ahead with the process but now the higher ups want to relocate the approved site citing reasons best known to them.“Final selected sites have got approval from AERB from radiation safety point of view but I fail to understand why the hospital administration is not cooperating. When everything has been done why are they thinking of new installation site,” a senior doctor who didn’t want to be named told The Kashmir Monitor. Dr Maqbool Lone, Head Radiation Oncology, SKIMS too blamed local hospital administration for delaying the process of setting up of PET scan facility at the hospital. “We have got the approval of setting PET scan at hospital from AERB and everything has been done. If we will go ahead with it we will have the facility at hospital within two are three months.
But local administration wants to relocate the site which will again mean a lot of delay,” said Lone. Dr Lone added that he had proposed a separate multi-storey facility for the RCC (which is now an SCI) to work efficiently. “We badly require a PET-CT and a Linear Accelerator along with a bone marrow transplant machine and latest surgical oncology equipment; if we are able to get all these, our diagnosis and treatment would substantially improve,” said Dr Lone. “No government or private hospital across J&K has PET Scan, patients have to spend between forty and sixty thousand rupees on travelling outside the state for a PET Scan examination,” said Dr Lone. When asked what PET scan actually does, Lone said, “It shows how organs and tissues are working, and thus will be a great help in diagnosing cancer efficiently and early. It is a must-have for any hospital dealing with cancer patients,” Dr Lone added. As per the AERB guidelines, any health institution looking to install PET-CT has to have its site and layout plan approved. “The user has to submit to AERB two copies each of the proposed layout plan, site plan, and elevation drawing of the facility indicating the floor, nature of occupancy around, above and below. The user has to clearly indicate the dimension of each of the rooms associated with the facility in the proposed layout plan of the Nuclear Medicine department,” reads an excerpt of the AERB guidelines. It is worth to mention that Rs. 47 crore was approved by the union health ministry to buy state-of-the-art equipment that would vastly upgrade the hospital’s capability to diagnose and treat the dreaded disease. The money was the first tranche of the one hundred and twenty crore rupees allotted by New Delhi under National Program for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, CVD & Stroke (NPCDCS). As per the NPCDCS guidelines, a part of the money is to be used for buying vital imaging equipment including Positron Emission Tomography-Computed Tomography (PET-CT) and Linear Accelerator, both machines that the RCC does not have. The RCC was given the status of a State Cancer Institute (SCI) last year and it become entitled to receive such support from the union health ministry. As per the data available on the website of US National Library of Medicine, PET Scan is different and better from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) (machines that are currently used in SKIMS), which show the structure of, and blood flow to and from organs. PET scan uses a radioactive substance called a tracer to look for disease in the body, which is more accurate than most of the earlier available technologies.
In February last year, the Jammu division bench of the State High Court in response to a Public Interest Litigation had directed the Commissioner/ Secretary, Health and Medical Education Department to take effective steps for the installation of the PET Scan machine in all the Government Medical Colleges of the State within a period of six months for providing better diagnostic facility to the cancer patients. At present HDR Brachytherapy, and some earlier acquired cobalt units at SKIMS are the only radiation therapy equipment available for treating cancer patients in the Valley. A senior doctor said the PET scan machine, which generates radiation, can't be installed at a place where there is rush of people.
"The machine has to be installed in isolation as radiation hazard it generates is harmful for the people," he said. Dr. G A Ahangar, the director of the institute, said he was away from Srinagar and would be able to look into it once he was back in the city. Last month, the Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti, had asked the director to expedite the process of securing the installation of the equipment. The hospital, which is the last go-to place for patients suffering from the deadly disease, has witnessed a surge in such patients over the last few years. Data collated in RCC shows that alone in 2014, 3940 patients with different cancers registered with the centre, over 600 more when compared to 2013 registrations. 18391 cancer patients have come to fore in various health institutions across the state with 6300 cases detected in 2013, 7098 in 2014 and 4993 till September last year. The Regional Cancer Centre (RCC) at SKIMS Soura is the highest medical care for cancer patients in Kashmir. Established in 1988, it is one among the 27 RCCs functioning across India. The Centre, however is struggling on two fronts: early diagnosis and lack of latest medical devices, two things that are really holding it back in its fight against cancer.
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