New cancer hospital to be opened in Beijing

The Cancer Hospital affiliated to the Air Force General Hospital, PLA, has been established in Beijing, which features a new model of joint consultation, by specialists of related fields for the patients.

The new hospital, the only one specialized in cancer treatment with a military affiliation, will have eight centers including radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and biotherapy departments, according to Xia Tingyi, director of the new hospital.

"The treatment will be patient centered and our specialties in different fields related would help ensure the most suitable treatment plan for each patient," he noted.

In China cancer patients usually hold misunderstanding that surgery is the best way for cancer treatment, according to Xia.

Official statistics showed that about 20 percent of Chinese cancer patients on the mainland get radiotherapy, while in the United States the proportion is more than 70 percent.

"In truth, for cases like nasopharyngeal cancer, or old patients who are too weak to undergo a surgery, radiotherapy is the best way," he noted.

With a special focus on radiotherapy, the new hospital is particularly good at treating lung, pancreas, and nasopharyngeal cancers, he said.

In recent years, cancer has become one of the major chronic diseases challenging public health of the Chinese people, according to the Ministry of Health.

Every year, at least 2.6 million Chinese people on the mainland develop cancer, which kills about 1.8 million people annually.

Among all types of cancer, lung cancer, which claims more than 600,000 lives on the mainland each year, is the top killer in the country. More than 85 percent of Chinese sufferers with the disease would die within five years of being diagnosed.