KARACHI, March 4: Radiotherapy, a treatment modality for cancer patients, is not available in any public sector hospital running under the Sindh Health Department throughout the province.

Talking to newsmen on Friday, an oncologist said the number of cancer patients was increasing with the passage of time, while the facility of radiotherapy was still awaited in hospitals of the Sindh government.

The approximate cost of radiotherapy equipment used for cancer patients was about Rs500 million, which needed special construction. In Karachi, this facility was available at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) and the Karachi Institute of Radiotherapy and Nuclear energy (Kiran) owned by the federal government.

A complete therapy of 30 days for cancer patient costs from Rs40,000 to 60,000, varying from patient to patient. "If a patient is diagnosed with cancer in Sukkur, and he travels to Karachi in search of the facility in public sector hospital, he will be disappointed to know the fact," he added.

He said around 14,000 new cases of cancer were diagnosed every year in Sindh, while more than 90 cancer cases were reported from January to February 14, 2005 at the Civil Hospital Karachi alone. -PPI