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New Zealand Unveils New High-Tech Cancer Treatment Facilities

The advancement of new cancer treatment technology is allowing an increasing number of people to effectively treat their cancer and live longer, fuller, healthier lives than ever before. When most people consider cancer treatment, they probably think of radiation and chemotherapy. While these are still the primary types of cancer treatment, the technology used to administer them has evolved significantly.

Curing cancer is unquestionably one of the twenty-first century’s major challenges. In the last two decades, the world’s understanding of cancer has vastly improved. This has revealed the enormous variability that exists not only between different types of cancer but also between patients with the same type of cancer.

There has been a surge of new technologies in recent years aimed at assisting the immune system in identifying and attacking tumours, a field known as immuno-oncology. These technologies have the potential to make a significant difference in the way in treating cancer, bringing people closer to being able to ‘cure’ it.

To address this, St George’s Hospital in Christchurch has unveiled new high-tech facilities. The Governor-General officially opened the Cressy Wing, a four-storey unit with a fluorescent imaging system, on July 2, 2021. The fourth and final building to be built as part of St George’s eight-year redevelopment includes a new maternity centre, digital operating theatres, laundry, and a medical supply room.

Surgeons use advanced imaging technology to isolate small tumours and cancer cells that are invisible to the naked eye. It works by using fluorescent dye to illuminate a patient’s anatomy. St George’s is the South Island’s only private hospital that uses the system for cardiothoracic surgery. One of the first cardiothoracic surgeons in New Zealand to use the technology was a Christchurch surgeon.

“The fluorescence feature lights up the nodules, so they turn a bright green, which means we can easily pinpoint where they are and excise them during surgery. It essentially provides us with a combined diagnostic and treatment tool, using a minimally invasive procedure,” he said. It provides patients with a conclusive diagnosis a lot faster than what would previously be done.

“Previously, we would often need to do lots of repeated CT scans after surgery to ensure we removed all the nodules, which would lead to prolonged patient anxiety and follow-up,” the surgeon added.

It can be used to identify critical anatomy during a variety of surgical procedures. It also allows surgeons to see blood, lymphatic fluid, or bile flowing through the body in real time. Surgeons who want to use fluorescent imaging technology are in high demand. St George’s chief executive said the completion of Cressy Wing meant surgeons could perform more complicated, life-saving procedures and achieve better clinical outcomes.

Transformation is also fuelled by the fact that healthcare systems are encountering an increasing number of issues, and traditional methods are not yielding the desired results. According to the World Health Organisation, there is a worldwide shortage of approximately 4.3 million physicians, nurses, and allied health workers, and care is frequently unavailable where it is most needed.

In this case, the government of New Zealand developed the NZ Health Strategy with the goal of modernising existing processes and practices to meet 21st-century challenges. Auckland is currently developing its digital health strategy, and it wishes to include as many stakeholders, experts, clinicians, and innovators as possible. This is why the government sought advice from The Medical Futurist, created a vision for health technology in April 2017, and invites citizens to provide feedback on the upcoming strategy.

The vision will guide the development of the Ministry’s Digital Health Strategy as well as sector-specific technology strategies. It is divided into nine themes that will help guide how we use technology to improve the health of all New Zealanders.

PARTNER

Qlik’s vision is a data-literate world, where everyone can use data and analytics to improve decision-making and solve their most challenging problems. A private company, Qlik offers real-time data integration and analytics solutions, powered by Qlik Cloud, to close the gaps between data, insights and action. By transforming data into Active Intelligence, businesses can drive better decisions, improve revenue and profitability, and optimize customer relationships. Qlik serves more than 38,000 active customers in over 100 countries.

PARTNER

CTC Global Singapore, a premier end-to-end IT solutions provider, is a fully owned subsidiary of ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation (CTC) and ITOCHU Corporation.

Since 1972, CTC has established itself as one of the country’s top IT solutions providers. With 50 years of experience, headed by an experienced management team and staffed by over 200 qualified IT professionals, we support organizations with integrated IT solutions expertise in Autonomous IT, Cyber Security, Digital Transformation, Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure, Workplace Modernization and Professional Services.

Well-known for our strengths in system integration and consultation, CTC Global proves to be the preferred IT outsourcing destination for organizations all over Singapore today.

PARTNER

Planview has one mission: to build the future of connected work. Our solutions enable organizations to connect the business from ideas to impact, empowering companies to accelerate the achievement of what matters most. Planview’s full spectrum of Portfolio Management and Work Management solutions creates an organizational focus on the strategic outcomes that matter and empowers teams to deliver their best work, no matter how they work. The comprehensive Planview platform and enterprise success model enables customers to deliver innovative, competitive products, services, and customer experiences. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, with locations around the world, Planview has more than 1,300 employees supporting 4,500 customers and 2.6 million users worldwide. For more information, visit www.planview.com.

SUPPORTING ORGANISATION

SIRIM is a premier industrial research and technology organisation in Malaysia, wholly-owned by the Minister​ of Finance Incorporated. With over forty years of experience and expertise, SIRIM is mandated as the machinery for research and technology development, and the national champion of quality. SIRIM has always played a major role in the development of the country’s private sector. By tapping into our expertise and knowledge base, we focus on developing new technologies and improvements in the manufacturing, technology and services sectors. We nurture Small Medium Enterprises (SME) growth with solutions for technology penetration and upgrading, making it an ideal technology partner for SMEs.

PARTNER

HashiCorp provides infrastructure automation software for multi-cloud environments, enabling enterprises to unlock a common cloud operating model to provision, secure, connect, and run any application on any infrastructure. HashiCorp tools allow organizations to deliver applications faster by helping enterprises transition from manual processes and ITIL practices to self-service automation and DevOps practices. 

PARTNER

IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud and AI, and business services provider. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Nearly 3,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and business services deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.

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