City cancer Institute gets radiation bunker

By U Sudhakar Reddy
Hyderabad, May 2: The MNJ Cancer Hospital is constructing a specially-designed concrete bunker to house its high energy radiation equipment so that accidental leakage don’t affect surrounding localities. The MNJ Institute of Oncology and Research Centre is located in a highly-populated area of Red Hills.
On the instructions of the Bhaba Atomic Research Centre and the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, the hospital has created a bunker which has two gigantic floors and walls more than two-and-a-half metres thick. It is meant to safekeep four high energy linear accelerators used for radiotherapy of cancer patients.
“The linear accelerator is high radiation-emitting unit and has to be kept in a specially designed place,” said MNJ director, Dr T. Mandapal. “It has been named Rajiv Gandhi Linear Accelerator block and the work is in progress.” The hospital is hoping to complete the work on the bunker in two-and-a-half months.
“It is being constructed by Andhra Pradesh Health, Medical Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation on 1,000 square yards at an estimated cost of Rs 4.8 crore,” said Dr Mandapal. Each floor of the bunker is almost ‘two stories’ high since the roof has to be high above the machines.
A linear accelerator with high dual energy mode system costs around Rs 6 crore. There are radiation safety officers in the hospital to take care of the systems. It was in 2000 that BARC permitted MNJ to resume radiation treatment for cancer patients which was suspended after it lost a hazardous radioisotope needle. Hospital authorities had said that it had only minimum radiation.