By 1 2 1 News Reporter
Chandigarh 30th August:-Prof. S.C. Sharma, Head & Dr. Firuza Patel, Professor are retiring from services of institute today after more than 40 years of service - 30th August, 2014. Both joined PGI in 1974 and 1975 respectively after doing their postgraduation, both joined as faculty in 1980 and 1981 respectively and rose to the position of Professor in 1999. They wre also trained in U.K. and U.S.A. respectively in their initial years.
Prof. S.C. Sharma took over as Head of the department on 1st April, 1994. He has special interest in brachytherapy, a division of radiation oncology, where treatment is delivered by keeping small radio active sources in and around the tumor. He introduced Ir-192 HDR brachytherapy in 1995 and was the first in the country to start Intraluminal Brachytherapy for better control of lung and oesophageal cancer. His main area of interest is management of breast cancer and lymphomas. When he took over, the department was already running MD and B.Sc. X-ray courses , however he started two new courses – B.Sc. Med. Technology in Radiothearpy and M.Sc. Medical Physics in colloboration with Panjab University, Chandigarh. There were huge technological advances in the field of radition oncology during 1990's and number of new radiation techniques were introduced which included 3-D CRT, IMRT , IGRT, VMAT and SRS/SBRT. Dr. Sharma worked hard to bring new technology to the institute for benefit of all the cancer patients. He established IMRT facilities in 2004 and he has just completed his dream project of IGRT complex , where a High Energy Linear Accelerator has been installed alongwith 4-D CT Simulator for practice of all above mentioned techniuqes, which will be available to the patients at a very nominal charge.
Dr. Firuza Patel is also retiring after almost 40 years of service. She has special interest in Gynaecological radiation oncology. She is recognised for her Dose Rate studies in Cancer Cervix not only in India but Internationally. In late 1990's she was pained to see the suffering of terminally ill cancer patietns , who were just left to fend for themselves without any support avaialble to them. She thus got trained in Palliative Care in United Kingdom for this and then established Palliative Care Clinic in the department of radiotherapy. In colloboration with the UT Red Cross Society Chandigarh Branch she established a Home Care Service in the Triciy for patients who could not come to the hospital and later established a Hospice for terminaly ill cancer patients in Sector 43, Chandigarh This facility has become very popular with cancer patients of the region and all those who belong to nearby places as it helps the patient to die with dignity and is a major support for the caregivers. This facility is totally free and is supported by the generl public with donations.
This team of Husband and Wife has worked hard to bring the department to a level which is recognized both nationally and internationally and is well equipped to provide Comprehensive Cancer Care to the patients of the region. Therefore , they are satisfied that they are leaving behind a department which is well equipped for treatment of cancer patients by any radiotherapy techniques and a department which is known for is teaching and producing well trained personnels in various fields of radiation oncology
