Yangon General Hospital Installs Cancer Treatment Systems

Yangon General Hospital has become the first clinical site in Myanmar to install technology from Varian Medical Systems for treating cancer with radiotherapy.   In February the hospital unveiled its new medical linear accelerator plus technology for high-dose-rate brachytherapy at a Grand Opening that was attended by Prof. Dr. Pe Thet Khin, Myanmar's Minister of Health.   

"We chose Varian technology because it will enable us to upgrade the quality of treatment that we can offer cancer patients in Myanmar," said Professor Soe Oo-Mg, head of the Radiation Oncology Department at Yangon General. 

The hospital’s new medical linear accelerator system is outfitted for intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), which enables clinicians to shape the treatment beam to match the shape and size of the targeted tumour. "This machine is fully capable of delivering high-quality treatments for many types of cancer, and upgradable in the future for addressing a wider range of cases that are more difficult to treat," said Kevin Lo, director of Asia Pacific marketing for Varian. 

The new high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy system delivers radiotherapy directly to a tumour site from inside the body.

The 1500 bed Yangon General Hospital has medical, surgical, trauma and orthopaedic wards, plus 24 specialised departments for inpatient care and runs an ER for general medicine, surgery and trauma. With 300 doctors and over 400 nurses it is also the Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital of University of Medicine 1, the country's premier medical school, as well as the Yangon Institute of Nursing and the University of Paramedical Science.

According to the World Health Organisation, over 60,000 new cancer cases are estimated to occur each year in Myanmar, with breast cancer the most common among women, and lung cancer the most common among men.