Cancer Institute, Adyar, Chennai, will be launching a B.Sc. degree course in Radiotherapy Technology under the auspices of the Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R. Medical University.
The B.Sc. course under allied health sciences is the institute's effort to assist providing quality patient care in select areas of clinical specialty in the hospital.
The standing academic board of the Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R. Medical University formulated the regulations for the B.Sc. degree courses under allied health sciences.
Candidates applying for admission to the B.Sc. course in Radiotherapy Technology should have passed the qualifying examination in the science group (with physics as one subject) after a period of 12 years of study.
The duration of the course is three years, at the end of which they will be awarded a B.Sc. degree in Radiotherapy Technology by the university. Radiation has been the major modality of treatment in majority of cancers.
The types of radiation used for patient treatment involves high energy X radiation and Gamma radiation produced in Linear Accelerators and Cobalt machines. The high energy X and Gamma rays have to be handled with care by only skilled personnel who are trained to use theses machines or equipments.
A statutory regulation of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), Mumbai, mandates use of these machines only by staff trained by authorised institutions.
This radiotherapy technology course is a full-time programme with lecture classes on physics applied to radiotherapy, human anatomy and all types of cancers treated by radiotherapy.
It will also provide practical training in the operation and handling of the treatment machines. Another unique feature of this programme is that the students are given appropriate communicative skills to enable them to provide the needed emotional support as part of quality patient care.
