$15.6M Cancer Center Opens in Vietnam Northern Province

A cancer center costing $15.6 million on March 28 opened at Vietnam-Sweden Hospital in the northern province of Quang Ninh, aiming to enhance treatment quality and meet demand of treating cancer for those in the northeast region. The 200-bed center was invested by the government and well-equipped with modern machines for cancer treatment. It also has a dormitory for physicians and a library. Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien said that investment in the center was part of the target of completing cancer treatment system nationwide in the future and it is also aimed at reducing the overloading in hospitals in Hanoi. Director Dr. Tran Viet Tiep of Vietnam-Sweden Hospital said that there were more and more people suffering cancer, heart problems and endocrine. Dr. Tiep cited statistics as saying that the rate of new cancer patients per year account for 0.16% of the whole country population and the hospital receives from 1,500 to 2,000 fresh cancer people a year. As treatment demand has increased dramatically, especially cancer disease since 2009, under the national cancer prevention development planning with the vision to 2020 approved by the Ministry of Health, in which the Vietnam-Sweden would be expanded with over 1,100 beds and three new cancer centers. Vietnam has around 150,000 cancer patients annually, of whom 75,000 succumbed to the disease. The number is expected to hit 200,000 by 2020. (Sai Gon Giai Phong – Saigon Liberty Mar 28)