The nation’s level of cancer treatment has kept pace with other countries and will remain among the leaders in proton radiation therapy, Department of Health (DOH) Minister Yeh Ching-chuan (葉金川) said yesterday after his agency nixed a foundation’s plan to introduce heavy-ion therapy to Taiwan last month.
“Taiwan can already be considered among the leading countries [in the area of cancer treatment],” Yeh told at a committee hearing in the legislature when asked if the country was in immediate need of the heavy-ion therapy.
Yeh said proton radiation therapy was more effective than heavy-ion therapy, noting that Hon Hai Group chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) donated NT$15 billion (US$463.9 million) last year to National Taiwan University Hospital to build the country’s first proton therapy center.
The questions were raised after Evergreen Group chairman Chang Yung-fa (張榮發) angrily denounced the department on Monday for rejecting his foundation’s proposal to build a cancer center equipped with a heavy-ion treatment facility.
Chang said the foundation had abandoned the project, which would cost between NT$6 billion and NT$10 billion, and he would fire the center’s preparatory team.
Advocates of heavy-ion radiotherapy believe it is more effective at killing tumors than proton therapy while causing less damage to healthy tissue.
In rejecting Chang’s proposal, the department said high radiation heavy-ion therapy was dangerous and such treatment would have to pass clinical trials in Taiwan before it could be approved.
Bureau of Medical Affairs Director Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said such clinical tests could only be conducted in conjunction with a teaching hospital, so the foundation was not eligible to introduce the equipment on its own.
Yeh said yesterday that he was willing to discuss the project with the foundation and perhaps provide help if the foundation was willing to cooperate with a teaching hospital.
Studies and proof of the safety and efficacy of the technology would have to be presented before heavy-ion therapy could be introduced to Taiwan. If there was insufficient evidence or its efficacy varies among different ethnic groups, clinical trials would be needed to verify its safety.
There are three heavy-ion treatment facilities in the world — two in Japan and one in Germany and a total of 29 proton treatment facilities in 13 countries, the DOH said.
Cancer has been the leading cause of death in Taiwan for almost two decades. More than 40,000 people died of cancer in Taiwan last year.
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