Patients wait at the out-patient department of the HCM City Oncology Hospital, which handles around 5,000 patients daily amid regional demand. — VNS Photos Nguyễn Diệp

HCM CITY — HCM City plans to allocate more than VNĐ5 trillion (US$193.3 million) for five key projects at the HCM City Oncology Hospital between 2026 and 2030 to ease severe overcrowding, shorten long waiting times for radiotherapy, and strengthen advanced diagnostic capabilities.

Dr Diệp Bảo Tuấn, director of the hospital, said the facility receives 4,800 to 5,000 patients daily, with more than 75 per cent of patients travelling from neighbouring provinces and cities.

The hospital currently has 10 linear accelerators running continuously over three shifts daily from 5am to 11pm.

To ensure the first session begins on time at 5am, technical staff arrive as early as 3am to complete mandatory quality assurance checks and equipment calibrations.

Despite operating at full capacity to complete around 700 treatment sessions daily, a further 800-1,000 patients remain on waiting lists.

“Average waiting times for radiotherapy range from four to six weeks, after which patients wait another hour for their session,” Tuấn said.

To streamline workflow and save time changing auxiliary equipment between procedures, the hospital clusters patients with similar medical conditions together, he added.

To address the problem, the municipal Department of Health plans to invest in building a new high-tech cancer screening centre and an auxiliary facility for patient support, upgrading specialised medical equipment, buying a new proton radiotherapy centre, a cyclotron system, and a single-energy medical linear accelerator system.

Once operational, the cyclotron will secure the local production of radiopharmaceuticals for PET/CT scanners, resolving critical shortages of the radioisotope 18F-FDG across the hospital and neighbouring southern provinces, while providing additional radiation therapy capacity.

Assoc Prof Dr Tăng Chí Thường, director of the Department of Health, said the specialised equipment procurement has received in-principle approval from city People’s Committee, and bids would be invited from suppliers no later than the first quarter of 2027.

The radiotherapy machine at the HCM City Oncology Hospital, which works non-stop from 5am to 11pm daily in three shifts to serve cancer patients.

The remaining projects are being finalised, and will be sent to competent authorities for approval in 2026–27.

Health authorities are also pursuing a "multi-tiered, multi-polar, multi-centre" strategy to take specialised healthcare to local communities, recognising that expanding existing facilities alone cannot satisfy the demands of a growing population.

The city is advancing public-private partnership proposals for a 700-bed Oncology Hospital branch in Bà Rịa and high-tech screening and diagnostic centres at the Tân Kiên and Thủ Đức medical clusters.

Construction of an Oncology Hospital branch in Bình Dương has been proposed for inclusion in the 2026-30 development plan.

While awaiting full project implementation, the hospital has introduced hypofractionated radiotherapy protocols to shorten treatment schedules in certain cases and prioritised emergency radiation treatments.

To cope with temporary shortages of 18F-FDG radioisotopes, clinicians are utilising alternative diagnostic modalities such as CT, MRI, and bone scans to ensure treatment remains uninterrupted. — VNS