Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS), a 500-bed hospital in Hyderabad, India, has announced that it will open 10 cancer treatment centers by June 2011 to meet the growing need for diagnostic and treatment cancer facilities in rural India.
Cancer is a leading cause of death in India, and the country's population has one of the highest reported incidences of mouth and tongue cancer in the world, according to B. Bhaskar Rao, MD, managing director and chief executive officer of KIMS.
The majority of the financing for the $45 million investment is being provided by GE Healthcare South Asia and Varian Medical Systems of Palo Alto, CA, as part of a strategic partnership with KIMS. The new centers are intended to provide conveniently located state-of-the-art facilities for early detection of cancers and same-location, cost-effective treatment. The centers also will provide diagnostic services in cardiology and neurology, according to GE Healthcare South Asia spokesperson Manoj Menon.
The network of centers will have one GE Discovery PET/CT molecular imaging system each and three centrally located cyclotrons for producing FDG biomarkers required for disease detection. Radiation therapy equipment will be supplied by both GE Healthcare South Asia and Varian Medical Systems, including RapidArc intensity-modulated radiation therapy systems using lower-cost treatment machines, according to Michael Sandhu, regional head of Varian's oncology systems business unit.
At a press conference in late June announcing the initiative, V. Raja, president and CEO of GE Healthcare South Asia, said that the collaboration with KIMS was an extension of the company's vision to provide quality and affordable healthcare technology to people in rural areas, and to reduce mortality rates of cancer through early detection and treatment.
Rediff.com India, a news and information website headquartered in Mumbai, reported on July 6 that Raja told reporters that his company was hoping to expand sales of healthcare equipment and services from $260 million to $1 billion in the South Asian market by 2015.
GE Healthcare South Asia was targeting a growth of 30% every year, Raja stated, and was concentrating on increasing its sales in India. Raja pointed out that only 10% of the total production of the company was sold in India, and its objective was to increase this to nearly 50% by 2015 to offer the best of medical facilities to patients throughout India, according to the news website.
Related Reading
Study: Global imaging market will rebound, July 7, 2010
Varian outfits India cancer center, June 16, 2010
GE touts PET agent study at SNM, June 10, 2010
Copyright © 2010 AuntMinnie.com
