Bilaspur: PET scan (positron emission tomography) facility will be available for cancer patients from March 2025 at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Bilaspur, the largest health institute in Himachal Pradesh. The equipment required for this important medical facility has been fully installed. Most of the staff has also been trained to use this machinery while training of the remaining staff is going on.
PET scan helps in identifying cancer and understanding its biological causes. This technique gives better results than MRI and clearly detects in which part of the body the tumor is. Experts say that with the start of this facility, cancer patients will get a better option for treatment. Till now, cancer patients of the state had to go to PGI in Chandigarh for PET scan.
There, one has to spend up to Rs 8,500 for the scan, and the necessary injections also have to be purchased separately by the patients. Patients have to spend Rs 10 to 25 thousand to get PET scan done in private hospitals.
This facility will be available at affordable rates in AIIMS, which will give financial benefit to the general public. AIIMS management said that this will be the first health institution in the state to provide the facility of this advanced technology.
AIIMS management has set a target to start this service completely by March 2025. Experts of the institute believe that the availability of this facility will not only save time of cancer patients but they will also be able to get the right treatment on time.