NCC to shift toward specialist-centered cancer care, reduce reliance on trainees
The National Cancer Center (NCC) announced its vision to lead national cancer research by leveraging domestic cancer data powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and to transform into a specialist-centered hospital as it marks its 25th anniversary.
“The National Cancer Center has accumulated data on approximately 500,000 cancer patients and 4.5 million patients registered at other hospitals,” NCC Director Yang Han-kwang said at a news conference on Wednesday. “We plan to link this data with information from the National Health Insurance Service and Statistics Korea for use in AI-based precision medicine research.”
Director Yang noted that the center is already “conducting evaluations and clinical research on new medical technologies such as robotic surgery, AI, big data, and cell therapy.”
Yang also outlined plans to promote the Full-Cycle Technology Development Project for Immune Cell Gene Therapy over the next five years, with a budget of 48.8 billion won ($33.2 million), aiming to effectively apply cell therapy to the treatment of solid tumors.
During the briefing, it was pointed out that the NCC experienced significant challenges due to the government–doctor conflict. Director Yang pledged to focus on transitioning the hospital to a specialist-centered model in response.
Lee Geun-seok, director of the Affiliated Hospital, stated, "During the government–doctor conflict, inpatient admissions decreased by about 10 percent and surgeries by about 15 percent. However, some other hospitals saw declines exceeding 60 percent, so our reduction was relatively smaller.“
Lee continued, ”The 145 specialists at our hospital worked diligently, including on-call shifts, to minimize gaps in cancer patient care as a public institution. A specialist-centered care system is essential for sustainable cancer treatment."
To this end, Lee said the NCC proposed a plan to the Ministry of Health and Welfare to transition to a specialist-centered hospital, adding that while the Ministry has accepted this direction, it is not yet at the implementation stage because the budget has not been secured.
Lee added that while residents require training, they have often been treated as inexpensive labor, and the hospital will move away from a structure that relies excessively on resident manpower.
On the occasion of the 25th anniversary, the NCC highlighted its major achievements this year, such as strengthening institutional management capabilities; establishing the National Cancer Center in Côte d'Ivoire; participating in the specialized function compensation pilot project; introducing senior staff competency evaluations and management leadership assessments; and forming an Integrity Innovation Task Force.