Ceylinco Healthcare opens hi-tech Radiation Treatment Unit

Country’s first Linear Accelerator goes on-line, offering new hope to cancer patients

Sri Lanka’s first private radiation treatment facility established by Ceylinco Healthcare Services Ltd., (CHSL) formally commenced operations last week, offering a quantum change in technology and techniques for the treatment of cancer.

The six-storey, 19,000 square foot Radiation Treatment Unit of the Ceylinco Healthcare Centre houses the country’s first Linear Accelerator, the international Gold Standard in the delivery of accurate, intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) for the treatment of cancer, and also offers many other forms of treatment using state-of-the-art equipment.
Senior representatives from the Washington Hospital Centre, with which the Ceylinco Healthcare Centre is affiliated, visited Colombo to participate in the opening of this ground-breaking venture, which its promoters describe as a ‘beacon of hope’ for people afflicted with cancer.
“This new venture is particularly noteworthy for Sri Lanka and the Ceylinco Group because it takes treatment of cancer to new paradigm in our country,” Ceylinco Consolidated Chairman Deshamanya Dr. Lalith Kotelawala told a news conference in Colombo. “It gives us great pride and satisfaction to bring to Sri Lanka its first Linear Accelerator as another step in our efforts to combat cancer.”

CHSL Deputy Chairman R. Renganathan said: “This ultra-modern facility will be the most advanced and comfortable centre for the treatment of all forms of cancer. It is custom designed and equipped to represent a centre of excellence in the field of cancer treatment, and fills a long-existing void.”

He said the arrival in Sri Lanka of the latest equipment and techniques for cancer treatment would result in substantial savings for patients who would otherwise have travelled overseas for treatment and also bring about a transfer of knowledge on the subject to the local medical fraternity.

Dr. Lawrence S. Lessin, Associate Medical Director of the Washington Hospital Centre said: “The Washington Hospital Centre is pleased to support the Ceylinco Healthcare Centre’s Radiation Treatment facility in Sri Lanka, as a centre of excellence in the treatment of cancer. We have been impressed with the vision, determination and commitment of the Ceylinco Group to bring the latest technology and techniques in healthcare to Sri Lanka.”

He said the Washington Hospital Centre is committed to provide the full benefit of its vast knowledge and experience in the treatment of cancer to the Ceylinco Healthcare Centre.

Elaborating on the equipment and techniques available at the radiation treatment unit, its Medical Director and Senior Oncologist Dr. Sarath Abeyakoon said the unit also offers Brachytherapy or short distance radiation treatment with the most advanced equipment available and Radioactive Iodine Treatment.

The modern linear accelerator which is the workhorse of radiation treatment departments in developed countries is a sophisticated machine designed to deliver accurate radiation beams to highly focused cancer bearing regions of the patient, Dr. Abeyakoon said. This prevents the irradiation of normal tissues. The machine is capable of varying the intensity of radiation dose within the tumour bearing region, so that a very high dose of radiation can be delivered to the tumour, thus increasing the chances of tumour control and thereby increasing the chances of cure. Brachytherapy is the technique where the radiation source is placed within or in contact with the cancerous tissue, he explained. With this technique high doses of radiation can be delivered to confined areas thereby sparing the surrounding normal tissue from radiation.

Radioactive Iodine is used to treat selected patients with cancer of the thyroid following a total removal of the thyroid gland. Radioactive Iodine can also be used to treat patients who have an increased activity of the thyroid gland or Thyrotoxicosis.

Central to these forms of treatment is a highly sophisticated CT Simulator and Computerised Treatment Planning and Verification System that enables a high degree of precision in treatment, he said.

Around this leading-edge technology, the Ceylinco Healthcare Centre has built a thoughtfully designed in-patient facility that includes luxury and semi-luxury rooms, wards, reception areas, doctors’ rooms, visitors’ areas and other ancillary requirements. The centre, which aims to be the benchmark for private cancer treatment in Sri Lanka, will enable patients to consult the specialists of their choice in a comfortable environment and undergo treatment in a non-hospital atmosphere, Dr. Abeyakoon added.

Cancer is estimated to afflict more than 10 million people annually the world over. In Sri Lanka there has been a steady rise in the annual incidence of cancer. The number of newly diagnosed cases of cancer reached 10,925 in the year 2000.