Over the next two years, the cancer burden in Mainland China will increase by 70%. Icon Group is addressing this burden via Australian expertise and cutting-edge techniques to help meet the growing need for quality cancer care throughout Mainland China.
In late 2019, Icon Group became the first Australian healthcare company to deliver cancer care in China at the first Icon Cancer Centre in Jiangxian in the Shanxi province. This world-class centre is located within Jiangxian Health Hospital and is equipped with Varian Medical System’s Halcyon System, the first of its kind in China. The opening of this centre is a true example of Icon’s mission to bringing care close to home. Jiangxian is a regional city with residents previously having to travel to neighbouring cities, with their closest radiation therapy centre 80 kilometres away which is equipped with out-dated technology no longer used in places like Australia USA, and the UK. This has resulted in higher mortality rates with many cancer patients foregoing treatment due to an inability to leave their jobs and families. Today, Icon’s presence has helped keep families together and elevate the standard of care to a community in need.
Continuing to steadily increase reach across Mainland China, in February 2019, Icon signed a milestone agreement with China’s Sanbo Brain Hospital Management Group to deliver radiation oncology services, opening the second Icon centre in late 2020 within Sanbo’s Chang’an hospital in Chongqing. This state-of-the-art radiation oncology facility has the capacity to treat 900 patients annually and is equipped with a Varian TrueBeam linear accelerator, including HyperArc technology, an advanced treatment technique delivery pin-point radiation to multiple brain tumours; the first of its kind in the region.
The Sanbo partnership was followed in quick succession by an agreement with United Family Healthcare Group (UFH). UFH is a renowned international hospital and clinic network with over two decades of proven experience within the Mainland China healthcare market. Icon’s expertise in the Australian cancer care market, coupled with UFH’s well-established standard of care in the region formed a solid foundation to open the third Icon Cancer Centre on UFH’s Qingdao hospital campus in late 2020. Once again with a focus on clinical expertise and investment in technology and innovation, Icon Cancer Centre Qingdao delivers HyperArc technology, and the latest in radiation therapy techniques for a wide-range of tumours.
In February 2021, the Group opened its fourth Icon Cancer Centre in China at Fenghuang Hospital in Fengcheng, China’s northeast Liaoning province. Alongside the latest in radiation therapy, the centre also includes a PET/CT providing a comprehensive approach to cancer care including screening, diagnosis and imaging. This PET/CT will service patients within Fenghuang hospital and surrounding regions, providing convenience and continuity of care, and will also have significant clinical benefits for early cancer detection, increased clarity of imaging for management and monitoring of cancers, as well as carrying out diagnostic procedures for many other conditions and disorders.
Continuing to build long-lasting relationships with reputable local hospitals, the Group signed an agreement with Sinohydro Bureau 11 Co. Ltd Huanghe Sanmenxia Hospital to build and operate an Icon Cancer Centre in their Huanghe Sanmenxia Hospital campus. This Icon Cancer Centre service, which opened in early 2022, services the growing communities of Henan, Shaanxi and Shanxi, the Yellow River Golden Triangle and helps contribute towards the ‘Health Sanmenxia 2030’ strategy to increase healthcare and advancement of technology in the region.
All Mainland China locations are supported by the Group’s Australian-based remote services model, which delivers world-class radiation therapy planning, medical physics support and specialised clinical training for radiation therapists and oncology nurses, which includes the use of AI technology. This robust model dissolves geographical barriers and harnesses technological advances and Australian clinical expertise to increase local expertise and deliver the best possible care to more communities.
Icon Group is also a proud partner of the China Anti-Cancer Association (CACA), a non-governmental organisation dedicated to the prevention and treatment of cancer. Icon works alongside CACA to provide bespoke training packages for doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals in Mainland China and also works closely with CACA (Australia) to foster growing relationships within the Australian Chinese medical community.
