RADIOTHERAPY DEPARTMENT

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29292, 25 August 1960, Page 11

RADIOTHERAPY DEPARTMENT

“Ventilation Hopeless”

A new source of radioactive material for the radio-cobalt unit at Christchurch Hospital has been ordered. The unit had been installed for more than three years and the natural decay of the material had slowed treatment time considerably, Dr. A. J. Campbell reported to the North Canterbury Hospital Board yesterday.

The new source would show a considerable improvement in a number of ways over the old one, and it was also a little cheaper, he reported. The future apparatus needs of the radiotherapy department tended to be. a choice of radioactive isotope beam-producing units rather than orthodox X-ray units. “When our oldest unit becomes completely obsolete, we will probably recommend the purchase of a radioactive caesium unit,” said Dr. Campbell. The ventilation of the department was “in a hopeless condition,” he complained. Many of the rooms depended solely on artificial light and ventilation. The department was hot when it should be cool and cold when it should be warm.

“The anxiety here is for the sick patient, body bared to the blast or sweating in the fug, rather than for the board’s employee, though it could be stated that a Comfortable employee is more efficient than an uncomfortable one,” said Dr. Campbell. “The whole system should be thoroughly overhauled and made to function satisfactorily by experts in this field.”