Brachytherapy resumes at BP cancer hospital

CHITWAN, July 25: Brachytherapy service has resumed at the government-run BP Koirala Memorial Cancer hospital.

The service is back after a gap of six years with the installation of a new equipment for the same. Earlier, patients requiring the service were forced to go to Kathmandu or abroad.

The test of the new equipment will be held tomorrow and then the service will be available for patients in a day or two, said the hospital Executive Director Dr Bijaya Chandra Acharya. The equipment was installed at a cost of Rs. 25 million.

According to Wikipedia, Brachytherapy is a form of radiotherapy where a sealed radiation source is placed inside or next to the area requiring treatment. It is used for the treatment of cancer, especially prostate cancer, by the insertion of radioactive implants directly into the tissue.

The hospital was without the service after the equipment installed when the hospital was established broke down. The hospital has been receiving on an average 150,000 patients every year, of which around 10,000 are cancer patients. RSS