State-of-art Cobalt external beam radiation therapy machine now at RGGGH in Chennai!!
On Friday, 13th September 2024, Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital or RGGGH in Chennai was buzzing with activities. Point is that the TN health minister Mr. M. Subramanian made his presence felt at this hospital yesterday and inaugurated a state of art cobalt external beam radiation therapy at a cost of Rs 2.76 cr.
For more than 100 years, RGGGH has been providing radiation therapy for cancer patients and the hospital is noted for being a pioneer in the radiation therapy field across Asia.
The health minister spoke about how the radiation therapy techniques have developed over the years. In this century, RGGGH has treated more than a million patients and that is an incredible achievement. He added that to enhance this legacy a state of art cobalt machine for external beam radiation was inaugurated.
How does this latest radiation therapy machine work?
Here, high energy gamma radiations would be used to target the cancer cells in the affected tissues etc. By this cancer in the neck, head, breast, cervix and oesophagus etc would be treated effectively. Truth is that accurate and precise treatment would be possible with the help of this new cobalt external beam radiation therapy. In just 5 to 6 weeks, complete treatment would be possible and critical areas would not be affected.
It must be recalled that in the districts of Erode, Tirupattur, Kanniyakumari and Ranipet etc a cancer screening programme was launched in 2023-24 financial year. In November 2023, this programme started in Erode district and 13.06 lakhs people were screened. It is learnt that of these 8.43lakh individuals have been tested and 106 new cancer cases have been brought to light. Treatment has been going on for these patients. There would be similar cancer screening programmes across all revenue districts in TN for those who are more than 18 years of age.
