ISLAMABAD: The increasing number of patients and a shortage of machines at the Nuclear Medicine, Oncology and Radiotherapy Institute (Nori), with one of its two radiotherapy machines being out of order, has lead to the hospital turning away patients.
Nori is the first institute to be recognised by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Pakistan for training fellows of the College of Physicians and Surgeons in nuclear medicine and radiotherapy.
Various research projects sponsored by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the WHO are also underway at the Nori Cancer Hospital, which is providing treatment to about 40,000 patients from Islamabad, Hazara, Jhelum, Sargodha, Azad Kashmir and other places.
Kashif Dutt was visiting the hospital with his 54-year-old aunt, who suffers from breast cancer. Talking to Dawn, he said he has been coming to Nori with his aunt for a month and a half now only to be told each time that the radiotherapy machine is out of order.
One of the two radiotherapy machines is now obsolete; hospital says it cannot treat all patients with one machine
“The Pakistan Baitul Mal is sponsoring my aunt’s treatment and she is now worried about the delay in medical care. She was given chemotherapy and was told to come again for radiotherapy, the machine for which has been out of order for more than a month,” he said.
Another patient’s attendant, Mohammad Bilal said that it is difficult to receive treatment even if the machines are functional due to the large number of patients.
“The government has announced to establish three hospitals in the federal capital and I demand that they be constructed as soon possible so that patients are facilitated,” he said.
A doctor at the hospital, who requested to remain anonymous, said there were two radiotherapy machines in the hospital, one of which is a linear accelerator machine and the other is a Cobalt.
“The linear accelerator is in good condition but the Cobalt is very old. In fact, these machines were first produced in the 1960s and have now become obsolete. Their use has been stopped across the world and it is not produced as well.
“But we are using the machine and keep repairing it again and again,” he said.
Nori Director Dr Mohammad Faheem told Dawn the machine is old which is why it keeps developing faults.
“We have been trying to get a new machine as the number of patients has increased and it is not possible to treat more than 100 patients everyday [with these machines]. However, the machines are expensive and I cannot say when we will have a new one,” he said.
Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2017