The National Medical Diagnostic Center was outfitted with gamma camera equipment that is used to precisely diagnose a number of diseases, including cancer. The device was purchased with the assistance of the Government of Japan through the “Kusanone” Program, IPN reports.
Together with the installation of this device in the Nuclear Medicine Laboratory of the institution, the number of examined patients increased and the waiting time decreased considerably. A number of 920 persons benefitted from scintillation scanning so far. “When the project was initiated, the waiting time for patients was 90 days on average, but now it decreased to 30 days and we daily perform 10-17 scintillation scans of different organs and systems, including the thyroid gland and lungs in post-COVID patients, and for cancers,” said the Center’s director Boris Băluțel.
Japan’s Ambassador to Moldova Yamada Yoichiro said the National Medical Diagnostic Center is an institution of strategic importance for the country. Owing to the grant, the Center strengthened its capacities by installing a gamma camera. “I hope the patients who need these examinations will have access faster than earlier. Profiting from this occasion, I want to thank the health workers for the precious service they provide to society,” stated the diplomat.
“Medicine advances very quickly. We, in the Republic of Moldova, have limited resources, but we must keep pace with what is happening in modern medicine abroad. Our patents also need rapid diagnostic tests and treatment as life can be saved or the risk of complications can be reduced this way,” said Minister of Health Ala Nemerenco.
A gamma camera, also called a scintillation camera or Anger camera, is a device used to image gamma radiation emitting radioisotopes, a technique known as scintigraphy. The applications of scintigraphy include early drug development and nuclear medical imaging to view and analyze images of the human body or the distribution of medically injected, inhaled, or ingested radionuclides emitting gamma rays. Camera detectors rotate through 360 degrees around the patient to acquire images.
