)
GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Company, on Tuesday announced a partnership with Cancer Treatment Services International (CTSI) to develop a network of 25 cancer care centres in India. Through five years, the two companies will together invest $120 million (Rs 720 crore) to establish these centres, through a hub-and-spoke model.
It is expected CTSI will account for most of the investment.
John Dineen, president and chief executive, GE Healthcare, said, “To begin with, we will set up cancer care centres in Andhra Pradesh and expand these gradually across the country. CTSI is already operating a cancer care centre in Hyderabad. The focus of our partnership is to provide affordable cancer treatment in India.”
At its development centre here, GE Healthcare is developing about 100 new products for the treatment of cancer. So far, it had launched six products and 15 additional ones would be launched later this year, Dineen said.
Joe Nichols, president and chief executive of CTSI, said, “Globally, this is a first-of-its-kind partnership between CTSI and GE Healthcare. We will extend the partnership across other countries, at a later stage. For now, we will set up a cancer care network in India through the next five years.”
The cancer care centres would offer the latest technology to diagnose and treat cancer and follow the standards adopted by the world’s top cancer hospitals, Dineen added.
CTSI operates four cancer hospitals in the US. It aims to expand rapidly in India, as the country is seeing a sharp rise in the number of cancer patients every year. Owing to late detection, low access to good care and the high prices involved, mortality rates were very high, Nichols said. Estimates suggested every minute, three patients succumbed to this disease, he added.
