THE HINDU * WEDNESDAY,JUNE 30,2010

85 million people go undiagnosed till it is too late

SETTING THE AGENDA: Bhaskar Rao, Managing Director, KIMS, addressing the media. Also seen are V. Raja, president and CEO, GE Healthcare, South Asia, and Terri S. Bresenham, vice-president and general manager, Molecular Imaging, GE Healthcare. - PHOTO: G. KRISHNASWAMY

Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences(KIMS) has tied up with GE Healthcare and Varian Medical systems to set up 10 ‘See and Treat’ one-stop oncology centres in smaller towns with latest technology for early detection and treatment of cancer.

The 10 centres would come up with a total investment of Rs.200 crore, first in Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam followed by eight more centres in Orissa, Kerala, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Bihar within two years.

The centres would be equipped with each of GE Discovery PET/CT Molecular Imaging systems for detecting the disease at its earliest possible stage and radiotherapy and radio-surgery technology from Varian Medical systems for treating patients.

Dr. Bhaskar Rao, CMD, KIMS said cancer was mostly identified at advanced stage drastically reducing survival period of patients.

Mr.V.Raja, President and CEO of GE Health Care, South Asia, said the tie-up with KIMS was an extension of GE Health Care’s vision to take quality and affordable healthcare technology to people in rural areas and reduce mortality rate through early detection.

Ms.Terri S Bresenham, Vice-president and General Manager, Molecular Imaging, GE Healthcare, said 85 million people go undiagnosed of cancer till it was too late. The molecular imaging would look at cellular process at very early stage to diagnose cancer.

THE TIMES OF INDIA * WEDNSDAY,JUNE 30. 2010

Medical technologies and services provider GE Healthcare, has joined hands with the Hyderabad based Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) to set up a chain of around 10 one stop oncology treatment centers across the country over the next couple of years with an investment of around Rs 200 crore.

The proposed “See and Treat” cancer care centers are slated to come up in Tier I and II cities like Vijayawada, Vizag, Bhubaneswar, Thrissur, Raipur, Indore, Coimbatore and Patna.

The first centre is expected to come up over the next two-three months at Vijaywada.

‘While we would provide assistance to raise debt for setting up the centers, the tie-up will focus on providing technological assistance. The hospital has to borrow only for infrastructure development,” V Raja, president and chief executive officer (South Asia), GE Healthcare, said here on Tuesday

GE Healthcare has also joined hands with Varian Medical Systems and the both would provide turnkey assistance to equip the centers, which would also provide diagnostic services in cardiology and neurology .

According to K1MS managing director and chief executive officer Dr B Bhaskar Rao, the tie-up would focus more on smaller centres because though the prevalence of cancer in towns and rural areas was equally high, they had limited availability of specialists and medical technologies for treatment.

“Putting up the centers in these areas would provide for early detection and cost effective treatment,” Rao, explained.