On June 4, the Anhui Provincial Cancer Medical Center was inaugurated at the First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical University. Anhui Province is striving to build an integrated province-wide cancer prevention and control system, enabling local residents to receive high-standard diagnosis and treatment for complicated cancers without traveling out of the province.

Cancer is a major public health issue that seriously endangers people’s health. At present, Anhui faces challenges including uneven distribution of regional medical resources for cancer treatment, weak specialized capabilities at grassroots medical institutions, and inconsistent technical standards, treatment protocols and quality control systems. These problems have led to a high rate of patients seeking medical care in other provinces and a heavy financial burden on cancer patients.

The Anhui Provincial Cancer Medical Center has defined its development priorities as systematic prevention and treatment, standardized homogeneous diagnosis and treatment, cutting-edge technologies, widespread early screening and diagnosis, structured talent training, industrialized transformation of scientific research findings, and people-friendly medical services. It will prioritize key tasks: establishing a three-tier provincial cancer prevention and treatment network, rolling out unified provincial standards for cancer diagnosis and treatment, spearheading technological breakthroughs in cancer care across the province, shifting the focus of cancer prevention to earlier stages, improving the training system for oncology professionals, and deepening integration between clinical practice and research for outcome translation. Ultimately, it aims to deliver a more robust cancer prevention and control system, stronger treatment capacity, unified quality control benchmarks, and more accessible medical services for residents.

It is reported that Professor Li Tongdu, a renowned oncologist, founded Anhui’s first oncology department at Bengbu Medical University in 1974. Today, it has grown into the province’s largest cluster of oncology disciplines with a full-fledged specialized service system.

Hu Jianguo, Party Secretary of the First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical University, stated: "By leveraging the hospital’s technical strengths in cancer treatment, the Anhui Provincial Cancer Medical Center will facilitate the development of a modern, all-round cancer prevention and treatment system integrating prevention, screening, diagnosis, therapy, rehabilitation, research, teaching and transformation of research outcomes."

The launch of this comprehensive system will surely bring about an overall reduction in cancer incidence and mortality rates in Anhui Province.

Source: Anhui Daily