MP News: Government Delays LINAC Orders, Cancer Care Push Stalls

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The health department has not issued a purchase order to any government medical college so far for the installation of linear accelerator (LINAC) machines in Madhya Pradesh.

LINAC machines will be installed in government medical colleges in Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Gwalior and Rewa for tertiary cancer care. The machines are to be installed in all five colleges by 2026.

The GMC dean Dr Kavita N Singh said, “So far, we have not been given a purchase order. We are waiting for the medical linear accelerator (LINAC), which is the primary device used for external beam radiation treatment, delivering high-energy xrays or electrons to destroy cancer cells while sparing surrounding healthy tissue.”

Postgraduate students are not getting exposure to radiation therapy in medical colleges due to the delay in installation of these machines, as existing radiation equipment is either defunct or obsolete. Doctors said medical colleges would first have to dispose of the existing radiation sources as per the protocol of Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) under Atomic Energy (Radiation) Rules before installing linear accelerators.

According to Madhya Pradesh Public Health Services Corporation Limited, the corporation only decides the rates of the machines, while the rest of the process is to be carried out by the concerned medical colleges.