Against the backdrop of the AMRI Hospital fire which had raised the spectre of a radioactive leak, the West Bengal government has set up a high-level committee to assess safety measures in the use of radioactive material in health and research facilities.
The committee has been set up in consultation with the Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre (VECC) which has framed well-defined guidelines to be followed during operation of medical equipment using radioactive material.
State Environment Minister Sudarshan Ghosh Dastidar told PTI, "Any violation of the Standard Operating Procedure, set by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), during use of radioactive material, particularly in health and research laboratories, should be monitored."
Ghosh Dastidar said scientists at the VECC had been asked to see if medical and research facilities in the state using radioactive materials were following instructions of the AERB. The minister said he had held elaborate discussion with VECC director, R K Bhandari, before setting up the committee which comprised experts of VECC and state government.
The committee would submit its report to the state government shortly, the minister said.
VECC and BARC scientists had visited AMRI Hospital at Dhakuria in south Kolkata when the fire destroyed most of the equipment triggering speculation of a spread of radioactive rays from materials allegedly stored in radiology department.