BERHAMPUR: While World Cancer Day was being observed on Sunday, the cancer unit at MKCG Medical College and Hospital is lying in a comatose state. On the day, not a single patient could be seen in the 20-bed unit which is battling with shortage of manpower and defunct machinery since long.
The chemotherapy and radiation therapy wings at MKCGMCH, treated as the referral hospital for Southern region of the State, have failed to serve cancer patients due to scarcity of staff and equipment. In such a scenario, patients admitted to MKCGMCH are being referred to SCBMCH, Cuttack.
Last year, the technician of MKCGMCH retired from his service and the costly Cobalt-60 machine in the cancer unit remained unused for months together. As no new technician was available, the hospital authorities were forced to bring back the retired technician. But by then, the machine had developed snags. With the defunct machine unable to serve its purpose, patients are now referred to Cuttack for radiation treatment.
As per the records available in the cancer unit, around 1,200 persons in the region are affected by cancer every year. During the last six years, around 6,500 cancer patients in the region went to MKCGMCH for treatment. While 1,266 patients reached the cancer unit in 2012-13, the number was 1,182 in 2013-14. Similarly, 1,200 patients turned up at the unit in 2014-15, 1,088 in 2015-16, 999 in 2016-17 and 724 in 2017-18 so far.
Of the total cancer patients, most females suffered from breast cancer while males were affected by throat cancer. While there are various reasons for occurrence of breast cancer, rampant use of tobacco was the reason behind throat, mouth and lung cancer. Contacted, the hospital authorities said measures are being taken to repair the snags in the machine. The higher officials have been apprised about the prevailing problems in the unit, they added.
