GUWAHATI, SEP 1: In a good news for cancer patients of the region, upper Assam’s first PET Scan (Positron Emission Tomography Scan) machine was commissioned at the Dibrugarh Cancer Care Centre at the Assam Medical College and Hospital (AMCH) on Thursday.
The Dibrugarh Cancer Centre which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 28 is operated by the Assam Cancer Care Foundation is a joint initiative of the Government of Assam and the Tata Trusts.
Dr Nitin Gangrade, consultant, Nuclear Medicine at the Dibrugarh Cancer Centre stated that the PET CT is a latest and state-of-the-art machine that can perform all those tests which are regularly carried out in big cities. He said that the PET Scan is a technique to detect the extent of spread of cancer and the progress and response to treatment in cancer patients. In absence of this facility, many patients had to undertake travel to faraway places and spend considerable sum of money to avail the facility and that too after a long wait.
It is learnt that the cost per PET-CT will be around Rs 18,000 to 20,000 while in a private set up it costs around Rs 40,000 to 45,000.
It may be mentioned that the Dibrugarh Cancer Centre has few more firsts such as first 128 Slice CT Scan which can undertake cardiac studies, a 3 Tesla MRI machine, the highest specification available in MRI technology and most modern blood component lab which is likely to start services in a few weeks. The cancer centre in Dibrugarh has two Linear accelerators – again first in upper Assam and about 60 patients get benefitted daily from these machines with practically no waiting period. In the last four months 950 patients have received chemotherapy, and 5,800 patients have received radiation therapy.
Dibrugarh deputy commissioner Biswajit Pegu who was present during the commissioning programme on Thursday said, “The Dibrugarh Cancer Centre is progressing at a fast pace and bringing world class cancer treatment modalities close to patients’ home and we are confident that the centre would carve a niche for itself in the national cancer care landscape.”