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Cheaper way to treat leukemia
By Cai Wenjun |
October 20, 2010, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A LOCAL hospital has developed a therapy for children with middle and low-risk leukemia to make treatment more affordable.
The treatment has been recognized by the Ministry of Health and has been introduced on a trial basis in other provinces before going national, officials from the Shanghai Children's Medical Center said yesterday.
About 70 percent of child leukemia patients have the middle or low-risk type, most of which can be cured through chemotherapy and proper medication. However, treatment varies greatly in different hospitals, resulting in big price differences.
Dr Chen Jing from the center's hematological oncology department said they can keep treatment costs between 80,000 yuan (US$12,048) and 90,000 yuan - half of what most hospitals charge - by cutting unnecessary health tonics, selecting cheaper medicines with similar effects, controlling the frequency of blood transfusions and allowing low-risk patients to use the outpatient department.
The incidence of leukemia in China is three per 100,000. There are about 40,000 new cases every year and half of these are children under 15.
In order to treat more people, the center, which receives the largest number of child leukemia patients in the country, will soon start construction of the nation's first medical building for children with blood diseases and cancer.
With the cooperation of Project Hope, an international non-governmental organization, the building will be finished in 2012 and feature 126 beds.
"We have already raised US$900,000 for medical equipment for the new building," John Howe, president and CEO of Project Hope, said yesterday.
The treatment has been recognized by the Ministry of Health and has been introduced on a trial basis in other provinces before going national, officials from the Shanghai Children's Medical Center said yesterday.
About 70 percent of child leukemia patients have the middle or low-risk type, most of which can be cured through chemotherapy and proper medication. However, treatment varies greatly in different hospitals, resulting in big price differences.
Dr Chen Jing from the center's hematological oncology department said they can keep treatment costs between 80,000 yuan (US$12,048) and 90,000 yuan - half of what most hospitals charge - by cutting unnecessary health tonics, selecting cheaper medicines with similar effects, controlling the frequency of blood transfusions and allowing low-risk patients to use the outpatient department.
The incidence of leukemia in China is three per 100,000. There are about 40,000 new cases every year and half of these are children under 15.
In order to treat more people, the center, which receives the largest number of child leukemia patients in the country, will soon start construction of the nation's first medical building for children with blood diseases and cancer.
With the cooperation of Project Hope, an international non-governmental organization, the building will be finished in 2012 and feature 126 beds.
"We have already raised US$900,000 for medical equipment for the new building," John Howe, president and CEO of Project Hope, said yesterday.
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