Bathinda cancer hospital patients hit as 3rd floor turned into covid facility

Six surgeries scheduled for the next three days, and chemotherapy and radiation therapy of many patients could not be not done

With the first batch of 24 suspected covid-19 patients moving into the third-floor isolation ward of the Advanced Cancer Institute (ACI) in the city on Tuesday, the line of treatment for cancer patients has been hit. Six surgeries scheduled for the next three days, and chemotherapy and radiation therapy of many patients could not be not done. The institute is a constituent of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS), Faridkot. Doctors say that cancer patients have low immunity and should not be exposed to the virus.

HT Image

Parvinder Sandhu, an oncological surgeon at ACI, said, “I had to put off scheduled surgeries. Due to the lockdown, patients from nearby towns who used to visit Chandigarh, Ludhiana or Rajasthan for chemotherapy and radiation therapy are also coming to us, leading to 20% more load. Due to the covid facility, we have to shift ICU-ward patients to other rooms. For chemotherapy patients, we will have to use a dharamshala on campus.”

“My 70-year-old mother is undergoing treatment for post-radiotherapy complications. Using the ACI to also treat covid patients is life-threatening,” said Munish Joshi, an attendant.

ACI medical superintendent Dr Deepak Arora said, “Precautions have been put in place, but we have a single X-ray test station and coronavirus patients will also need the same facility. The movement of paramedics and other staff from cancer wards to the covid facility is also a concern,” he said.

Bathinda civil surgeon Amrik Singh, “Cancer patients must be kept away from the covid facility. I will take up the issue with the deputy commissioner. Cancer patients may be shifted to the BFUHS campus.”