How to Choose a Radiation Therapy Centre — A Practical Checklist

Check five things: NABH accreditation of the exact facility that will treat you, whether the offered technique matches what your tumour board recommended, a named multidisciplinary tumour board rather than one doctor's opinion, a written and itemised cost estimate, and scheme or insurance eligibility confirmed before you commit. Each of these is independently verifiable — you can ask for evidence of every one rather than relying on reputation or how a facility looks.

Ask in four areas: accreditation and who reviews your case (is this facility NABH-accredited, and is there a real tumour board), technique and planning (which technique is recommended for your diagnosis and why, who checks the plan before your first session), cost and schemes (can you get a written, itemised estimate, is Aarogyasri, Ayushman Bharat or insurance checked upfront), and logistics (how many sessions, over how many weeks, what support exists if you're travelling daily). A centre confident in its answers will welcome all four.

Three things don't need any medical knowledge to check: NABH accreditation status, which is published and can be confirmed independently rather than taken on trust; your treating doctor's registration, which is publicly verifiable with the state medical council; and the written cost estimate itself, which you can read to confirm it names the technique, states the total course cost, and lists what's included. It's also worth checking that online reviews belong to the specific facility treating you, not a hospital group's other branches.

Not on its own. Equipment age matters far less than whether the specific technique your diagnosis needs is available, whether the facility is properly accredited, and whether trained staff and quality-assurance processes are in place. A centre highlighting "the latest machine" without addressing accreditation, technique fit or a written estimate is telling you less than it seems — ask the other checklist questions before treating equipment alone as the deciding factor.

Ask the centre directly for its current NABH accreditation certificate or reference number for the specific treatment facility — not just the parent hospital group. Accreditation is granted to a facility, so a group's overall reputation doesn't automatically extend to every centre or every service line it operates. If a centre is reluctant to share this or the accreditation appears to belong only to a different department, treat that as a reason to ask more, not less.

Yes — a second opinion is a normal, reasonable step before committing to any radiation therapy centre, not a sign of distrust. A credible centre won't discourage it, and it can confirm whether the recommended technique, tumour-board review and cost estimate line up with what another qualified team would advise. CION offers a free second opinion consultation for exactly this reason.