NEW DELHI: Cancer patients at Delhi State Cancer Institute (DSCI) are facing growing uncertainty as staff shortage and administrative delays have disrupted critical diagnostic services, forcing many to get costly tests done outside the hospital or endure long queues. Of the 814 posts, 491 are vacant, and the institute has had no regular director since 2018.
Patients say access to PET scans, which are crucial for detecting cancer spread, monitoring treatment and identifying recurrence, have become increasingly difficult. “The machine exists, but there is no specialist to run it,” said a patient. “We are sent to private hospitals, which many of us cannot afford.” “Our treatment depends on timely scans,” another patient said. “When they are delayed, it is our lives that are put on hold.” DSCI wrote to higher authorities on Jan 21, highlighting the urgent requirement for nuclear medicine faculty from the Central Health Services (CHS) cadre. It cited the unavailability of specialists despite repeated recruitment attempts. Officials said that although a suitable officer was reportedly approved by Govt of India, no formal communication or joining happened, prompting a renewed intervention through Delhi govt and the Union health ministry. Officials said the crisis is driven by a severe manpower crunch, with nearly 60% of sanctioned posts vacant across clinical, technical and administrative cadres. The shortage is most acute in nuclear medicine, leaving expensive infrastructure underused. Last year, the Union health ministry ordered the transfer of a nuclear medicine specialist from Safdarjung Hospital to DSCI, but the posting did not materialise. Responding to queries, Safdarjung PRO Sakshi Chhugh said the hospital submitted its response to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) and the matter was under consideration. “Any decision will be taken by the competent authority,” she said. DSCI media spokesperson Dr Pragya Shukla said PET-CT scans for patients under the Delhi Arogya Kosh (DAK) are free at empanelled hospitals. But she acknowledged that non-Delhi residents face major difficulties, often having to pay privately. The urgency has increased as DSCI’s PET-CT licence is due to expire in Sept. With no separate CT scanner, the PET system is also being used for radiodiagnosis. If PET services halt, officials warned, nuclear medicine, cancer staging and radiation planning will be severely affected. A Rs 15.42-crore medical cyclotron, installed in 2017 to produce radioactive tracers for PET scans, has remained non-functional since 2019 due to the lack of trained manpower. Only three cyclotrons exist in Delhi, making the lapse particularly damaging for govt patients. Highlighting the wider fallout, senior advocate Ashok Agarwal, in a representation to the chief secretary, warned that the staff crisis has weakened DSCI’s ability to function as a tertiary cancer care centre. He flagged dangerous delays in chemotherapy and radiation, drug shortages and disruptions in essential investigations, disproportionately affecting poor patients dependent on public hospitals.
