New radioactive source to arrive at TMCH this month

Thrissur: The new

radioactive source

for the radio-therapy machine at Thrissur Medical College Hospital (

TMCH

) is likely to arrive soon.

According to Dr M K Ajayakumar, principal of the medical college, the Atomic Energy Regulatory Authority (AERB) officials have informed that the new source was likely to arrive around March 20 from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai, under maximum security.

The hospital authorities had to reduce the cases of radiation treatment as the capacity of the existing radioactive source, which is about 13-years-old, was waning because of overuse.

Earlier, the TMCH was giving radiation treatment to about 90 patients from Thrissur, Palakkad and Malappuram districts daily. However, the machine was developing frequent snags because of overuse.

“Now, we will be able to give radiation to about 100 patients per day, once the new source comes in,’’ said Dr R Mahadevan of the radio-therapy division of the TMCH.

The government has sanctioned Rs 1 crore for the source replacement and had permitted the TMCH authorities to allocate the remaining amount from the hospital development society (HDS).

According to TMCH sources, radiation treatment with the new source was likely to begin by March-end or early April.

About 300 patients register at the hospital per day seeking radiation, but the hospital will be able to give radiation only to only about 100 of them, because of the lower capacity of the machine.

“The government has also given sanction to install a linear accelerator at the college, and steps for this will also be expedited,” said Ajayakumar.