Cancer management in the country has received a major boost with the launch of the Elekta’s Versa HD, an advanced linear accelerator designed to treat a broad spectrum of cancers and significantly enhance patient care.
Versa HD, the first in Sub-Saharan region of Africa, was inaugurated today by Ministry of Health Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) Dr Mercy Mwangangi in the company of Dr BS Ajaikumar, Executive Chairman, Healthcare Global Enterprises (HCG) Limited, Dr Manoj Shah, Chairman MP Shah Hospital, and Mr Habib Nehme, Executive Vice President, Elekta.
Dr Mwangangi said that it is truly commendable that HCG CCK Cancer Centre is the first hospital to introduce this latest technology in the Sub-Saharan region of Africa.
The CAS said that Elekta’s Versa HD will help improve the quality of life of oncology patients and rationalize treatment costs of tumour diseases in the region.
“As a leading cancer care specialist, HCG has always been instrumental in bridging the quality and accessibility gap for patients, and with this initiative, we are sure to witness the best treatment outcomes,” said Dr Mwangangi.
Dr Ajaikumar said that being the pioneers in adopting advanced technologies for cancer therapies, HCG is proud to introduce Elekta’s Versa HD, yet another market-leading innovation.
“It has been our ceaseless endeavour to provide personalized and precise cancer treatment to our patients. HCG has been at the forefront of adopting cutting-edge technologies in the fight against cancer and the launch of the Versa HD system is a key milestone in this direction. Equipped with this latest technology, HCG CCK Cancer Centre will be better equipped to provide patient-centric, best-in-class medical services,” said Dr Ajaikumar.
On his part, Dr Shah said that cancer is the second-most cause of mortality across the world, and the launch of Elekta’s Versa HD, will help them provide comprehensive oncology services focused on delivering specialized outcome-based treatments with a multi-disciplinary clinical approach.
“For the medical team of specialists, this technology will help treat several early to advanced cancers by accurately targeting the most complex tumours,” said Dr Shah.
Mr Nehme said that they are excited to collaborate with HCG Cancer hospital, which is committed to enhancing the accessibility of quality cancer care.
“Elekta is using precision radiation therapy to work towards a future where everyone can benefit from precise and individually tailored radiotherapy treatments. With Versa HD, clinicians can deliver cutting-edge radiation therapy and offer people dealing with cancer a prolonged, disease-free life. Like HCG, our goal is to ensure every patient has access to the best cancer care possible,” said Mr Nehme.
Versa HD provides clinicians with the dual flexibility to deliver conventional therapies to treat a wide range of tumours, as well as high-precision targeted therapies for treating highly complex cancers.
The Elekta Versa HD will reduce the overall patient treatment duration of up to five to seven weeks currently for standard treatments to a maximum of one week with the overall advantage of considerably reduced treatment side effects experienced among patients being treated using hypo fractionated regimens.
This is enabled through protection of organs at risk and normal tissue. The Elekta Versa HD can treat up to 150 patients in a day coming as a sigh of relief for patients who travel overseas to receive this specialized treatment.
By Joseph Ng’ang’a
