Medical centre to be a milestone

NST: GEORGE TOWN: The world's first cancer prevention hospital outside of Canada will be set up at a site in Bayan Mutiara here early next year.
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said state investment arm InvestPenang was in the final stage of negotiation with Canadian-based GeneNews Limited to prepare an integrated medical facility for the latter.
Lim said the opening of such a facility would be a medical milestone for Malaysia as GeneNews made a medical breakthrough in July by launching the world's first blood test for colon cancer screening.
"InvestPenang will arrange for a world-class full hospital facility, clinical reference laboratory services and genomics research (study of genes) centre as requested by GeneNews at Bayan Mutiara.
"There will also be a personalised health management centre available to patients at the hospital."
He said the emergence of the hospital would also augur well for the local medical tourism industry, and herald an influx of medical tourists to Penang.
Lim was speaking to reporters after witnessing the signing of a strategic alliance agreement between Mount Miriam Hospital and GeneNews yesterday.
With a cancer detection success rate of up to 75 per cent, Lim said GeneNews research works were able to identify cancer cells fives years prior to mutation.