Jungle radiotherapy

The installation of a cobalt theratron and the setting up of a radiotherapy department in a missionary hospital in a remote tribal area in central India forms the basis of this article. Doubts about the suitability of the environment for this type of project are offset by the need to serve an isolated rural population of six million people, many of whom could not afford the cost of travelling to existing centres located in the main towns of the state. Installation of the 6000 curie teletherapy unit was begun in February 1982, and following inspection the unit was commissioned the following June. In this part of India cancers of the head and neck abound, and many of these are radiocurable. Treatment planning is carried out by the radiographers - few centres in India have computerised planning facilities and some of the older ones do not have a physicist - and the facility is now in regular use