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National Blood & Cancer Center (NBCC) is establishing first private healthcare facility in Saudi Arabia licensed to screen, diagnose and treat cancer and blood diseases;
NBCC will feature GE Healthcare's latest imaging technologies and solutions including training of healthcare professionals for early cancer detection and accurate and timely diagnosis
NBCC complements the efforts of the Ministry of Health and other key public health institutions to tackle the huge and growing burden of cancer and blood diseases in the Kingdom
This Partnership is in line with GE's $1 billion global cancer commitment to advance oncology solutions through 2016, building on more than 50 years' experience in the fight against cancer
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; May 24, 2015: The National Blood & Cancer Center (NBCC) has selected GE Healthcare as its key imaging technology and advisory partner for the establishment of Saudi Arabia's first private healthcare facility licensed to prevent, screen, diagnose and treat cancer and blood diseases. The center on King Abdullah Road in Riyadh, set to open in May, will boost diagnostic care with a new comprehensive out-patients facility that will bring several new offerings in Hematology and Oncology in the Saudi private sector, including dedicated outpatient Chemotherapy infusion unit and the Kingdom's first "Same-Day Cancer Diagnosis" Clinic.
NBCC's Radiology Department will house GE's latest diagnostic imaging systems including Magnetic Resonance, CT-Scan, Ultrasound and Healthcare IT solutions. The facility will feature - for the first time in the Kingdom - GE's Automated Breast Ultrasound System (ABUS)* intended for use as an adjunct tool with mammography, and GE Healthcare's first-ever integrated, simultaneous PET/MR system, first outside USA.
This a hybrid imaging system that combines PET -- which is used to determine the activity of cancer cells in a tumor mass-- and MR -- which focuses on specifying the location and physical size of a tumor. As part of the partnership, NBCC will also leverage GE Healthcare's clinical department solutions designed to enhance the patient experience through the development of locally relevant cancer patient pathways and more efficient patient throughput, as well as the deployment of technical and leadership training to ensure optimization of product features and benefits.
Further, in an agreement witnessed by GE Healthcare's global president & CEO, John Flannery, the clinic is set to become a reference site for GE Healthcare in the region with GE to provide NBCC access to new and emerging technologies and solutions, advisory support and collaboration in the development for technologies and solutions.
"As the region's largest group of physicians specialized in hematology and oncology, NBCC's vision is to increase access to quality and affordable care for cancer and rare blood diseases to compliment the public sector and drive innovation and research through the development of new and innovative service lines and diagnostic imaging services. As part our long-term expansion plans, NBCC aims to establish an internationally recognized hematology and oncology network of excellence with a new 150-bed oncology hospital to be built in Riyadh, supported by a number of regional 'satellite' cancer centers to be established in various parts of the Kingdom. To achieve this ambitious plan, we aim to leverage the global and regional expertise, capabilities and integrated offerings provided by our highly respected international partners like GE to ensure a gold standard of cancer care is delivered to our patients within their communities", said Dr. Hamad Al-Omar, Chairman of the Board of Directors of NBCC.
"The rise of all forms of cancer continues to place significant burden on the community and the healthcare system," said Mazen Dalati, President & CEO, GE Healthcare Saudi Arabia. "With research showing that at least one-third of cancer cases are preventable1 meeting the cancer challenge head-on ranks among the key health priorities of Saudi Arabia. Complementing the leadership of the public sector, GE applauds the efforts of the National Blood Cancer Center for building and expanding access to essential oncology services in the private sector. Through its work globally and in the region, GE Healthcare is a committed partner in the Kingdom and across the Middle East to bring its extensive oncology solutions and expertise to help combat cancer."
Innovation is at the forefront of this approach helping researchers increase their understanding of the causes and the progression of cancer. For example, while GE's imaging systems assist doctors in seeing the tumour, molecular imaging agents help target cancer and molecular diagnostics help physicians personalize cancer treatment and management decisions. Further, new and emerging diagnostics including GE Healthcare's latest positron emission tomography (PET) tracer technologies can also help doctors determine whether specific oncological treatments are working.
In line with efforts to bring innovation to tackle the global burden of breast cancer, GE's SenoBright™ Contrast Enhanced Spectral Mammography (CESM)** technology combines digital mammography, X-ray and a contrast agent to help detect and localize a lesion rapidly. CESM can be used to help confirm findings and localize lesions when screening results are inconclusive and can be performed quickly, potentially reducing the stress of waiting time for many women.
In September 2011, GE launched an ambitious global campaign against cancer, committing $1 billion of its total R&D budget over the next five years to expand its advanced cancer diagnostic and molecular imaging capabilities, as well as its world-class technologies for the manufacture of biopharmaceuticals and for cancer research. By the end of 2013, more than $525 million had been invested, setting GE on track to meet its five-year commitment. To accelerate progress the campaign against cancer combines the strength of GE's portfolio of cancer technologies with the innovations born from collaborations with key partners.
References:
*FDA approved. Registration pending/waiting for approval from Saudi FDA
**510k cleared , not registered in Saudi
1. www.who.int/cancer/prevention/en/
2. 'Prevention, early detection and economic burden of breast cancer'. Commissioned by GE Healthcare, Authored by Bengt Jὃnsson Professor in Health Economics at the Stockholm School of Economics and Nils Wilking MD PhD, 2013
About GE:
GE (NYSE: GE) imagines things others don't, builds things others can't and delivers outcomes that make the world work better. GE brings together the physical and digital worlds in ways no other company can. In its labs and factories and on the ground with customers, GE is inventing the next industrial era to move, power, build and cure the world. www.ge.com
GE Healthcare:
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services to meet the demand for increased access, enhanced quality and more affordable healthcare around the world. GE (NYSE: GE) works on things that matter - great people and technologies taking on tough challenges. From medical imaging, software & IT, patient monitoring and diagnostics to drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies and performance improvement solutions, GE Healthcare helps medical professionals deliver great healthcare to their patients.
GE Healthcare in Saudi Arabia
With over 25 years of operations in Saudi Arabia, today, over 20,000 GE Healthcare technologies are deployed across the Kingdom's hospitals. In 2012, GE Healthcare was selected by the Saudi Ministry of Health as partner in establishing the Kingdom's first-ever breast cancer screening program. To date, the program has screened more than 20,500 women.
Join the conversation at our GE Hewar blog: http://middleeast.geblogs.com/
For more information, please contact:
NBCC
Ahmed Alkenani
Manager, National Blood and Cancer Center, Riyadh Centre
alkenani@bloodandcancer.org
+966112532303
GE
Tamara Azab
Communications Manager
+971 528006016
Tamara.Azab@ge.com
© Press Release 2015
