PMGH Cancer Center

Overview:
According to the Globocan report 2022, Papua New Guinea ranks third in terms of cancer incidence in the Oceania region after Australia and New Zealand, with around 12,000 new cancer cases and 7,500 cancer-related mortalities. The high cancer-related mortality of over 65% is primarily attributable to two factors: the lack of cancer care facilities and significant lack of awareness of cancer. Establishing the PMGH cancer center would be paramount to identifying and treating patients in their early stages of cancer, leading to improved cure rates and reducing the yearly mortality rate from 65% to less than 40%.

The impact of the PMGH cancer center on improving yearly cure rates cannot be overlooked, as the cure rate is a direct translation of the quality of cancer care available in a country. 

By having a state-of-the-art cancer center in PMGH, it would be possible to cure several patients upon timely arrival and salvage as many patients as possible in advanced stages. To put this in perspective, a cure rate of over 90% is achievable for early stages of cancer and about 60% for locally advanced stages. A cancer center in PMGH has the potential to improve the economy of PNG by serving the cancer patients in PNG and attracting those from the neighboring developing Pacific.

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PMGH Cancer Center:

To realize the dream of a self-sufficient cancer care in PNG, a state-of-the-art cancer center was envisioned at PMGH in the year 2019. This cancer center was long overdue to the people of PNG and we are very close in witnessing history in terms of cancer care in the developing Pacific. The cancer center along with the PMGH hospital facilities was planned to cover all aspects of cancer care from cancer awareness, cancer prevention and screening, early diagnosis and treatment, and also the palliative needs of the cancer patients.

PMGH cancer center is a cancer treatment facility planned to start its phase I of clinical operations from September 2025 by providing the state of the art radiotherapy and chemotherapy services. It would house two linear accelerators, one CT simulator, one brachytherapy machine, OPD clinics for medical and clinical oncology, 13 day care beds to provide chemotherapy services for the cancer patients.

The linear accelerators are advanced cancer treatment machines that are capable of delivering very complex and precise radiation treatments in a short period of time. Nearly 600 patients can be successfully treated annually per linear accelerator. A brachytherapy treatment suite is also being planned for delivering internal radiation, which is especially important in the treatment of gynecological cancers – a major killer of women in PNG. Nearly upto 200 cervical cancer patients can be treated annually with brachytherapy in this facility.

​The current scenario regarding Cancer burden in Papua New Guinea is grossly unknown due to incomplete data collection, inadequate diagnosis and documentation. To discover the baseline of cancer in PNG, we are required to work towards building a National Cancer Registry. The data, when effectively collected, would go hand in hand with the data from cancer screening thereby enabling us to hold a tight grasp on the causes of cancer burden in PNG and uproot them in future by innovating strategies and effectively employing interventions. ​PMGH has taken the first step in cancer registry by partnering with the Cancer Alliance Queensland in developing a web based hospital cancer registry called QOOL-PNG, which has the potential to become the National Cancer Registry of Papua New Guinea.

Future of PNG cancer care:

In the later phases of the expansion of the cancer center it is planned to have a dedicated Oncopathology and Molecular biology lab capable of supporting Immunotherapy services and Bone Marrow Transplantation (BMT).