Chattogram is preparing to launch a positron emission tomography-computed tomography, or PET-CT, scanning service for cancer diagnosis at the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences beside Chattogram Medical College Hospital. Installation work on the laboratory is nearly complete, and officials expect the service to begin within two to two and a half months. The facility is intended to reduce the need for local patients to travel to Dhaka for the examination.

Hospital sources estimate that Chattogram has about 400,000 cancer patients, while roughly 120 cancer patients seek treatment at Chattogram Medical College Hospital each day. The hospital director, Brigadier General Mohammad Taslim Uddin, said private PET-CT scans currently cost Tk60,000 to Tk70,000, while a government-run service at the hospital could cost less than half that amount.

The project also includes a cyclotron to produce radioisotopes needed for PET-CT scans. Equipment installation is underway in a specially built underground bunker, and recruitment is nearing completion. PET-CT can identify cancer locations, detect whether disease has spread, and help assess treatment response. The Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission took up the roughly Tk106 crore project in fiscal year 2019-20.