Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS), an integral part of radiation oncology that has been in use in India for a decade now, was inaugurated at state-run Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology (KMIO) on Monday.
With the second-highest number of cancer patients in India after Mumbai's Tata Memorial Hospital, Kidwai has more than 20,000 new cancer patients every year apart from 3.5 lakh follow-up patients, 80% of them below poverty line. Every day, more than 1,500 cancer patients visit the hospital.
One doctor who did not want to be named told DH: "Kidwai has a huge amount of data in radiology. This data could generate so many research questions and get a lot of research grants which major private oncology hospitals are getting from countries like the US. Getting X-rays, ultrasound images and PET CT scan images over 30 years is a huge opportunity."
Dr C Ramachandra, Director, KMIO, said: "More than three lakh patients' records have been digitised from 1973 which is not easy in a public hospital. Only some 10% is left. In the west, they've been using PACS since 1980s. Lab reports, X-rays, CT scans, MRI, Mammogram, OT notes, radiotherapy history, everything has been archived. I can access it from our Kalaburagi branch too."
Briefing Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, who inaugurated the facility, Sanjeev S, MD and CEO of Mediff Technologies, said: "As medical specialists can access images remotely and send back the diagnosis within minutes, general physicians start treating patients at once without wasting time waiting for a specialist to arrive at the hospital."
Several facilities costing more than Rs 50 crore were also inaugurated. These include a central sterilisation room, a PET scan bunker, a bone marrow transplant facility, a genomic and advanced molecular oncology lab, CT simulators with world-class technology, a brachytherapy unit, paediatric ICU, day care ward and step-down ICUs.