Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) plans to construct five more cancer hospitals in addition to 13 already providing services to more than 350,000 patients annually.
PAEC Chairman Parvez Butt stated this at the inaugural ceremony of a five-day regional training course on "Radionuclide treatment of liver cancer" jointly organised by the PAEC and IAEA here on Tuesday.
He proposed establishment of a National Cancer Centre for compiling data on various malignancies and number of patients in the country to control the spread of cancer. He also announced setting up of cancer hospital in Muzaffarabad.
Prevention and cure of Hepatitis B&C, which ultimately lead to the ailment of liver, was already the top priority of the government, he said.
PAEC Member (BioSciences) Dr Kauser Abdulla Malik divulged the diverse nature of PAEC's programme covering defence, R&D, Human Resource Development, industrial support services, agriculture improvement research and cancer treatment.
Dr Kauser said that in view of high incidence of breast cancer in women, the PAEC has established Breast Cancer Clinics in all of its 13 hospitals and is also undertaking a public awareness campaign at the national level.
IAEA Faculty Member Dr A.K. Padhy introduced in detail the nuclear medicine programme of the IAEA, which aims at providing transfer of technology to developing and least developed countries for cancer treatment.
Host of the conference and NORI Director Dr Rafaqat Ali Jafri said that conventional treatment of liver cancer has very low survival rate and its treatment through nuclear-related techniques, which already was in practice in many countries, offers multiple benefits and a much superior cure rate.