Varian Medical Systems Establishes Radiotherapy Training Centre in Mumbai, India

Varian Medical Systems has established its first education centre in India to train medical physicists and technologists working on the company’s advanced cancer treatment systems. The centre in
Mumbai, equipped with 16 planning system workstations and the VERT* training system for radiotherapy treatment simulations, will enable the country’s growing number of radiotherapists and medical physicists to train without having to travel overseas. The official opening, which was attended by Kanta Chokkra, President of the Association of Medical Physicists of India, was carried out by Kolleen
Kennedy, Varian’s VP Customer Support Services.

"Radiotherapy use is growing rapidly here and we want to do whatever we can to equip the increasing number of practitioners with the experience they need locally," says Michael Sandhu, Varian’s
Regional Head of Operations.

Vivekanand Tathvadkar, Varian’s India Country Manager, adds, "In the current economic climate people are not able to travel as extensively as they used to, so a facility here in India gives them the opportunity to get handson experience without leaving the country. We also hope to attract trainees from neighbouring countries. There are fewer than 400 radiotherapy machines in India and almost half of these are outdated cobalt machines," adds Michael Sandhu, "but we are seeing a rapid investment in new equipment and many Indian hospitals are now able to offer the most advanced treatments available in the world."