Radiotherapy in India: History, current scenario and proposed solutions

The history and current status of a biomedical discipline in a country or region provide important health system indicators. During the last one hundred years, radiotherapy has established its position as a vital specialty in cancer management. It has proved to be one of the most cost effective ways of treating cancer providing both radical and palliative treatments depending on patient stage and performance status. However, access to radiotherapy for cancer patients in India is limited by several factors including physical proximity of centre, cost and availability of required technology. This article gives an outline of the history, existing radiotherapy facilities and future trends related to radiotherapy practice in India.