CUTTACK: The PET-CT Scan facility will be available for patients in Acharya Harihar Post Graduate Institute for Cancer, Cuttack (AHPGIC) from June 29.This was informed by AHPGIC counsel to the Orissa High Court which was hearing a PIL on the issue earlier this week.
The counsel Devashis Panda informed the court that the PET-CT Scan equipment was brought to the cancer hospital on April 6 and installation work is on. He further stated that approval from the Atomic Energy Commission for installing and operating the equipment and other incidental activities is awaited. The equipment will become operational by June 29, Panda assured the court.
Taking note of it, the division bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice RK Pattanaik posted the matter to July 11 while directing Panda to file a separate affidavit indicating the timeline within which the expansion activities of AHPGIC will be completed.
The petition was filed last year by Anita Budhia, a 50-year-old cancer patient who was then undergoing treatment at AHPGIC. She had asked why the institute did not have a PET-CT scan facility despite being a leading cancer institute in eastern India and the only government-run hospital for treatment of cancer in the State. PET-CT scan is a vital test required for detecting if a cancer cell has spread to body parts of a patient other than the initial organ.
The 400-bed hospital caters to the needs of thousands of cancer patients of not only Odisha but also parts of neighbouring Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bengal. It has an annual patient turnout of 23,000 to nearly 33,000.
The bench also directed the State government to file a separate affidavit by then on the current status of procurement and installation of PET-CT scan equipment for the medical facilities at Bhubaneswar, Balasore, Berhampur and Jharsuguda.