Back in 1996, a Brachytherapy machine – worth tens of millions of taka – was installed at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital for giving radiotherapy treatment to cancer patients.
Now, after all these years – 18 to be specific – it has worn out beyond usage because not a single cancer patient has been allegedly given radiotherapy with the expensive machine.
After having remained locked away in one of the rooms of the hospitals for the most part of its life, it is now waiting to get scrapped.
The striking case of negligence has been recently revealed in an inspection report placed by a four-member committee of experts from the National Electro-Medical Equipment Maintenance (NEMEW) department of the government’s health directorate.
The panel also recommended removing the machine from the hospital because it was a source of radioactivity that might eventually be the result of further cases of cancer if anyone gets exposed to it.
Sources said the current market price of the machine was between Tk2.5 crore to Tk3 crore. They also said since the machine was latest when it was bought in 1996, it must have cost the government around Tk5 crore, although the Dhaka Tribune reporter could not confirm how much the equipment was bought for.
Brachytherapy – also known as internal radiotherapy – allows the use of a higher dose of radiation to treat a smaller area than an external beam radiation treatment can do for cervical cancer patients.
Cervical cancer is the most common form of cancer among Bangladeshi women. Radiotherapy is the most important modality of treatment at the later stages of the disease.
Cancer specialists said Brachytherapy could also be used for the treatment of prostate, head and neck, breast, gallbladder, uterus, vagina, lung, rectum and eye cancers.
The Dhaka Tribune has learnt that at present, there are four other Brachytherapy machines in the country. The National Cancer Institute is the only government facility to have it. The other three machines are all installed at various private hospitals – United, Delta and Khaja Yunus.
Each round of Brachytherapy costs around Tk2,000 at the government hospital. At the private facilities, the same treatment would cost Tk10,000-Tk12,000.
The NEMEW Report
According to a copy of the NEMEW report that the Dhaka Tribune has accessed, the China-made machine was supplied by a company named MRS Mardel Agency.
Since being installed, the machine remained out of order for many years.
In the report, the committee recommended scrapping the machine as it could not be repaired now because it was an old model and therefore none of its spare parts were available anymore.
The authority says
DMCH Director Brig Gen Dr Mustafizur Rahman said he had heard that the machine had been lying idle in the hospital for many years.
He also said a new Brachytherapy machine had already been purchased but it could not be installed until the old machine was removed.
Prof Dr Moarrof Hossain, head of radiotherapy at DMCH, told the Dhaka Tribune that: “We are waiting for the Atomic Energy Commission’s decision about taking away the [old] machine and destroying the radioactive source inside it.”
