Pittsburgh-based UPMC plans to develop and manage a new cancer center in Colombia, which will offer more accessible care to Latin American patients who would otherwise need to travel hundreds of miles for treatment, according to the Tribune-Review.
The new cancer center — the Oncology Institute at the Hospital International de Colombia — would open in 2016 in the city of Piedecuesta. It would be the first private cancer center in Colombia.
UPMC said the cancer center would provide advanced oncology services in the region, which are currently lacking. Approximately 113,000 individuals are expected to be diagnosed with cancer per year over the next decade, up from 80,000 cases this year.
The project includes a 10-year agreement between UPMC and the Fundación Cardiovascular de Colombia to develop and co-manage an oncology center for both adults and children. The Oncology Institute will expand a partnership in Colombia, where UPMC-owned Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh in 2009 supported Fundación Cardiovascular de Colombia in Bucaramanga as it developed a heart center to treat pediatric congenital and vascular diseases.