Prince Edward Island's new radiation oncologist, Dr. Senti Senthelal, began employment this week with the new Provincial Cancer Treatment Centre at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. The new Centre is expected to open in May 1999.
Immediately, Dr. Senthelal will be working with hospital staff to finalize the selection of radiotherapy equipment for the Centre and develop guidelines for recommended radiation treatment to be delivered on Prince Edward Island.
Health and Social Services Minister Mildred Dover advised that bringing Dr. Senthelal to the province was the last major step to be taken before the opening of the Centre this spring. "With construction of the facility near completion and a full-time radiation oncologist and medical physicist on staff, we are optimistic that the final pieces will now fall easily into place," she said.
A native of Sri Lanka, Dr. Senthelal graduated in Medicine from the Tashkent Medical Institute of the former Soviet Union in 1984. He received his MHSc in Health Administration from the University of Toronto in 1989, and later completed his residency training in radiation oncology with the McMaster University Program in Ontario. Dr. Senthelal received Royal College certification in Radiation Oncology in May, 1997 and recently completed a post graduate fellowship at the Hamilton Cancer Treatment Centre.
"I'm looking forward to working closely with physicians throughout the province to make the most appropriate use of the new Cancer Treatment Centre," he said. "I am very interested in the overall health system performance and the best utilization of health services, something for which my studies at the University of Toronto has prepared me."