Macau Union Hospital begins cancer treatments

The Macau Union Hospital carried out its first oncological treatments late last week for cancer patients referred by the Health Bureau (SSM), marking the beginning of radiotherapy services at the facility.

By obtaining internationally renowned medical equipment and advanced technologies, “treatment effectiveness” is boosted, allowing the hospital to provide patients with higher quality medical care, the hospital said in a statement.

The statement said radiotherapy services at Macau Union Hospital will also gradually come into service starting Sept. 16.

The institution expressed its goal of “providing better quality medical services to patients, thus reducing the need to seek treatment outside the territory, striving to achieve the goal of ‘treating serious diseases without leaving Macau’”.

Cancer has long been a leading cause of death in Macau, accounting for nearly 30% of fatalities last year, according to official statistics.

Improving radiotherapy is key to better treating patients and reducing the need to seek care abroad.

Macau Union Hospital recently invested in a TrueBeam system for stereotactic radiotherapy and an Ethos system for online adaptive radiotherapy with artificial intelligence – the first of their kind in Hong Kong and Macau.

“They enable high-speed and high-precision personalized treatments,” the hospital statement said.

Victoria Chan