Icon becomes first Australian healthcare company to deliver cancer care treatment in China

Today on the 5^th of December 2019 Icon Group has become the first Australian healthcare company to deliver cancer care treatment in China. The first radiation therapy treatment has been delivered to a local Chinese resident at the first Icon Cancer Centre in Jiangxian. This state-of-the-art centre, located in Jiangxian Red Cross Hospital is equipped with a Varian Halcyon System, the latest in radiation therapy technology with the capacity to treat up to 80 patients a day. It is the first of many Icon Cancer Centre’s set to open across Mainland China in the coming years alongside our other partnerships with Sanbo Brain Hospital and United Family Healthcare.

Icon Group CEO, Mark Middleton reflects on the three year long journey in making this dream a reality below.

Every person at Icon involved in this project has contributed to this milestone. It has been the greatest learning exercise for our teams. We’ve learnt new ways of working together, bridged the gap between our cultures and developed relationships cross-countries to make this happen. We’re increasing clinical education to local Chinese medical professionals and introducing a unique way of delivering care to match the landscape and address the gaps. On this journey we have learned about resilience, the power of teamwork and camaraderie.

This has also been a particularly personal achievement. I have made sacrifices, mistakes and wrong turns along the way. From the Aussie suburban backyard to navigating the intricacies of Chinese culture, it has been a difficult journey but an extremely enriching one. Visiting hospitals in China and learning about the reality of healthcare for millions of Chinese has been humbling. After seeing this reality it was never a question of could we do this, it was only a matter of when we’d make this happen. They said it was impossible, but today we did it – we’ve overcome every obstacle and used our experience and innovation to bring cancer care to a place no one dared go before. To a place that deserves state-of-the-art care as much as anywhere else in the world.

Our processes will only get better, our training will continue to evolve, remote radiation therapy planning will allow us to treat more people, more efficiently, and our dream to make a difference will never tire.

On my 41^st trip to China I am tremendously proud of this moment. Today on the 5^th of December 2019, we’ve changed the dial on the global cancer burden and brought the best care possible to as many people as possible, as close to home as possible.