On the morning of June 19, news from Dr. Vo Van Kha - Director of Can Tho City Oncology Hospital said that the hospital has officially put into operation the linear linear accelerator radiation therapy machine (LINAC) system.
This event marks a new step forward in cancer treatment, bringing high efficiency and minimizing side effects for patients in Can Tho in particular and the Mekong Delta (Mekong Delta) region in general.
In fact, for many years, cancer patients in the Mekong Delta region have regularly faced the pressure of transferring to Ho Chi Minh City to perform radiation therapy protocols. Long travel not only impairs the patient's physical condition, disrupts the treatment process, but also creates a large financial burden for families.
The official commissioning of a modern radiation therapy system directly solves this "bottleneck". Now, people in Can Tho and neighboring provinces can receive advanced treatment regimens right at home, thereby optimizing the "golden time" in medicine, creating favorable conditions for family members to accompany and care for patients in the best way.
In addition, the team of oncology specialists, medical physicists and radiation technicians at the hospital have all been well-trained and specialized domestically and internationally, meeting the increasingly high requirements of medical examination and treatment.
Radiation therapy has long been one of the foundational methods in multimodal cancer treatment protocols. However, as Lao Dong newspaper has repeatedly reported, in recent years at Can Tho City Oncology Hospital, thousands of patients in the Mekong Delta region have had to undergo radiation therapy on an outdated Cobalt 60 radiotherapy machine.
Cobalt 60 radiation therapy machine was put into use in 2010 and from about 2022 - 2024, it often suffered severe damage.
At the above time, to meet the needs of 300 patients waiting each day, the radiation therapy department of the hospital divided into 4 day and night radiation therapy shifts. Each radiation therapy session is on average 15-20 minutes, meeting about 75 people/day.
Building and developing Can Tho City to 2030, vision to 2045 according to Resolution No. 59 dated August 5, 2020 of the Politburo, Can Tho City Oncology Hospital is identified as one of the specialized medical centers of the Mekong Delta region.
