Cancer patients demand Radiotherapy facilities at GMC Anantnag
Anantnag: Hundreds of patients from south Kashmir who are suffering for want of radiotherapy services at Government Medical College (GMC) Anantnag have demanded these facilities at the hospital.
The attendants of these patients said that they are struggling hard to take their patients on daily basis to SKIMS Soura or SMHS for radiotherapy.
They said that it is really difficult for the attendants to carry patients on daily basis to SKIMS or SMHS as besides radiotherapy they have to spend money on travel as well.
“We have to take patient for regular radiotherapy for about four weeks and it is not easy to take patient to DH Pora to SKIMS on daily basis as all the patients don’t belong to financially sound families,” said an attendant.
“Had these facilities been made available at GMC Anantnag it would have been very easy, less expensive and least troublesome task for them,” he said.
Other patients while echoing the same demands said that there is immediate need of Radiotherapy facilities at GMC as there are already over 1000 cancer patients registered at GMC Anantnag.
They said that most of the cancer patients need radiotherapy and in absence of such facilities patients have no option other than to visit Srinagar.
They said that it becomes very difficult for poor patients to come from far off places and visit Srinagar for radiotherapy where such facilities are already overcrowded.
They requested higher ups to look into the matter an earliest and make these facilities available so that patients won’t suffer any more.
Meanwhile, an official of oncology department at GMC Anantnag while acknowledging that radiotherapy is of utmost importance as around 60 percent cancer patients require these facilities at some point said that there is an immediate need of Tele-cobalt and Linear Accelerator (LINAC) machines.
He said that higher ups have been informed in this regard and manpower is already available and they are hopeful that such facilities will be made available soon at the hospital.
