A new age has dawned for treating children with cancers, as the Minderoo Children’s Comprehensive Cancer Centre at Randwick, east Sydney officially opened on Tuesday.
This first of its kind facility integrates clinical, laboratory and educational aspects under one roof.
Its inauguration ceremony was attended by the Federal Health Minister Mark Butler, NSW Parliamentary Secretary for Health Dr Michael Holland and mining magnate turned philanthropist Dr Andrew Forrest.
This world class facility has been developed within the scope of a $658 million redevelopment of the Sydney Children’s Hospital.
It has been created with the combined efforts of three long standing organizations, Children’s Cancer Institute, Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network and UNSW Sydney.
This partnership has been ongoing for more than four decades. This centre will accommodate about 900 child cancer experts, including doctors, researchers, allied health experts and educators.
The core of the project is a model that places research laboratories next to treatment wards and day oncology spaces, so that discoveries can be transferred from the laboratory to the bedside more quickly.
Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said, “For the first time in our history, Australia has a purpose built, fully integrated cancer centre for children and young people committed to improving their healthcare outcomes.
“The opening was a landmark moment for children and young people with cancer, and for the families who support them,” NSW Health Minister Ryan Park said.
Professor Louis Chesler, co director of the centre at the Children’s Cancer Institute, referenced the success of the Zero Childhood Cancer precision medicine program, which currently serves more than 1,000 young patients in Australia.
This, he added, had already helped pave the way for the new initiative, with joint work between scientists and clinicians speeding up research and its application.
Andrew Forrest, chairman of the Minderoo Foundation, which has agreed to name the centre in exchange for substantial funding didn’t mince his words.
The centre was financed jointly by the governments of New South Wales and Australia, while additional money was contributed through philanthropy by the Children’s Cancer Institute, Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation, UNSW and the Minderoo Foundation.
In general, cancer is the main cause of death among kids in Australia.
Although the survival rate has increased sharply in the last six decades, one out of five children does not survive after being diagnosed with cancer.
Of those who manage to survive, 70% are expected to suffer some consequences from treatment.
The centre’s leadership said it planned to share its research and data with leading institutions around the world, with a view to helping children well beyond Australian borders.
