2021 Press Release

Integrated Oncology Centres (IOC), the regional oncology arm of Singapore-based TE Asia Healthcare Partners, has appointed Timothy Chang as CEO replacing Phoebe Ho who has resigned and will be returning to Canada at the end of this year.

Mr Chang’s appointment, effective 1 October 2021, will see him lead a network of 10 cancer hospitals and centres in six markets across Asia. It comes at a time of expansion as IOC opens new facilities in Singapore and Malaysia.

Mr Chang will continue to be a Director of TE Asia, where he is a member of the investment committee and will continue deal sourcing in Southeast Asia. TE Asia, which is backed by private equity firm TPG Capital, owns specialty hospitals and medical centres across Asia, focusing on oncology, cardiology and orthopaedics.

Eng Aik Meng, Group CEO of TE Asia and Chairman of IOC, said: “We thank Phoebe for her leadership in managing and building IOC in the last six years. IOC has scaled tremendously since its first centre in Hong Kong and is now a rapidly growing network that has secured the partnerships of reputable oncologists, surgeons, radiologists, and other allied professionals across the region.

“Her prior experience as the first CEO of Hong Kong Integrated Oncology Centre (HKIOC), our first start up investment in IOC, meant that she was quick to understand the different operating support required by each of our new investments, in the different operating environments. She led the regional team in IOC, working with the resident doctors, to support the local management teams in our first few oncology investments in the region. She has been pivotal in advancing our business model of being operating partners to the clinical practices within the IOC regional network and this has been key to the provision of integrated care.”

“Timothy is no stranger to the group, being part of the pioneer team that started TE Asia Healthcare with me, he was instrumental in securing the investments within the IOC portfolio. We know he will be able to successfully build on the strong foundation laid down by Phoebe,” Mr Eng added.

As CEO, Mr Chang is expected to continue to work with the TE Asia investment team as new investments are added to the regional IOC network, with its unique Clinical Practice Partnerships with medical specialists. Doctors are empowered with equity stakes in the hospitals or centres and are key decision-makers in clinical and operational matters. This is to ensure patients receive multidisciplinary and integrated care from diagnosis to treatment and rehabilitation.

Mr Chang has over 15 years’ experience in healthcare operations and acquisitions, and held senior executive positions in hospitals across Asia, including the CEO position in Cardiac Vascular Sentral Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Hung Viet Cancer Hospital (Vietnam), Mahkota Medical Centre, (Malaysia) and Regency Specialist Hospital (Malaysia).

Every 15 seconds, somewhere in the world, a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer.

In the month of October, IOC centres across Asia are uniting to inspire and honour women who are affected by this disease: patients, loved ones and caregivers.

With your support, we can show every woman that her life is important. We also want to inspire hope and become a force to empower her to look after her health.

We embrace diversity and respect that every woman is unique, each has her own story and her own journey.

In conjunction with Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, we would like to reinforce our commitment to provide integrated oncology care in Asia, treating our patients with respect, and empower them to take charge of their cancer journey.

Find out more information on what we have in stored for breast cancer awareness month by following #breastcancerpink today on Facebook.

With aims to strengthen the cancer care infrastructure and reduce the overall cancer burden in the current healthcare system, Hung Viet Healthcare Network (Hung Viet Cancer Hospital and Hung Viet General Clinic) is set to introduce advanced radiotherapy services soon in its hospital. This will make Hung Viet Healthcare Network one of the two leading private hospitals in Hanoi to provide the full suite of integrated cancer care services to patients.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) states that Vietnam has about 165,000 new cancer cases and about 115, 000 cancer related deaths each year^[1].  In 2020, Vietnam registered a total of 182563 incidences.[2]The number of cases is projected to double for all cancer sites in 2025 and to substantially increase for most types of cancers, which is driven by the aging population and the increasing populations within the largest cities in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi.[3]

Despite the existence of good public and private hospitals specialising in oncology in Vietnam, there is still an urgent need for more personalised cancer services to be made available to the local population due to the rising cancer incidences and overloading of patients in these hospitals.

Hung Viet Healthcare Network (HVHN) aims to provide access to integrated cancer care in Hanoi and surrounding provinces in North Vietnam

Cancer treatment requires different treatment modalities including surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, requiring patients to seek treatment from different healthcare providers and adding further complications in their already complicated cancer care journey.

Integrated care is a specialized health care model of collaborative care provisions particularly for chronic conditions such as cancer. Integrated cancer care provides the best approach to cancer care as it reduces the fragmentations of care encountered by patients.

Working in close collaboration with IOC, one of Asia’s first region-wide oncology network with centres in Hong Kong, Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, HVHN is able to provide a holistic approach to cancer care using international standards, aligning each stage of a cancer patient’s journey with information and support from diagnosis through treatment and beyond.

“The prospect of introducing the integrated cancer care model in Vietnam cancer care comes at a very crucial time. The global pandemic is proof enough about the importance of having regulated and well-coordinated healthcare management systems. We are excited to bring that model to Vietnam and work on this journey with HVHN as we are able to increase access to key cancer treatment modalities like radiotherapy services to Vietnam,” said Phoebe Ho, CEO, IOC.

“Leveraging IOC’s region wide support has given Hung Viet Healthcare Network (HVHN) an opportunity to bring the integrated cancer care approach to Vietnam. As we work on strengthening our infrastructure, we hope to bring better to cancer treatment will help us to better manage the rising cancer burden in Vietnam, while ensuring that our community receives the best treatment and care for cancer in their own homeland,” said Sam Lee, CEO, HVHN.

Currently, HVHN provides services like screening, diagnostics, oncology surgery, oncology drug treatments (chemotherapy, immunotherapy and targeted therapy) and post treatment care like rehabilitation and dietary counselling under one roof. HVHN launched Hung Viet General Clinic in 2020 to provide outpatient services including diagnostics, minor surgery and health screening as a move to make advanced screening and diagnostics quicker and more accessible to the local people in Hanoi. Taking a step further, the established cancer care hospital targets to introduce radiotherapy services for cancer patients in 2021, becoming one of the two private hospitals to do so in Hanoi and closing the loop on providing a complete range of care and solutions for cancer patients.

A set up as such will ensure that more cancer patients are able to get faster access to quality treatments and consultations from top experts in a private healthcare setting, enabling more patients to access seamless and quality cancer services closer to home.

Beside enhancing local cancer care abilities and treatments, being a part of IOC’s expanding regional network also gives HVHN access to top experts in the region and latest updates on cancer care, further pushing the frontiers of oncology treatment in Vietnam.

References:

[1] https://www.who.int/vietnam/health-topics/cancer

[2] https://gco.iarc.fr/today/data/factsheets/populations/704-viet-nam-fact-sheets.pdf

[3] https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1073274819865274

Started by the National Cancer Survivorship Foundation, 6 June is recognised as National Cancer Survivorship Day in USA, celebrating those who have survived cancer and inspiring others to maintain hope as they battle cancer. Aimed at motivating patients and their caregivers to stay positive in their journey to recovery, Integrated Oncology Centres (IOC), one of the region’s leading oncology networks, has dedicated the whole month of June to show its support to those who are battling cancer as well as those who have conquered the disease.

IOC’s Cancer Survivorship Month is themed “Celebrating Life” to recognise the challenges that survivors face and to encourage them to celebrate every milestone they have achieved. This campaign is organised in collaboration with IOC’s centres in Hong Kong, Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia. Through the campaign, IOC also aims to deepen the community’s understanding towards better cancer management while focusing on three key aspects of survivorship: caregiving, dealing with recurrence and staying strong in the fight against cancer.

Coping with being a cancer caregiver

The role of caregivers should not be underestimated in the cancer care management journey. Providing care and support to cancer patients is not an easy task and often gets overwhelming as caregivers juggle with the social and psychological impact of seeing their loved ones go through challenging times. Furthermore, there is also the financial burden that one might face in this journey to consider.

It is important for caregivers to remember that they are not alone in this journey. If caregivers feel overwhelmed, they are encouraged to seek counsel and support from their social network. They can also reach out to healthcare professionals who would be willing to provide advice on how to better manage their emotions and wellbeing. Throughout this journey, it is important for caregivers to remember that self-care should be a priority and caregivers need to take time off for their own physical, mental and emotional well-being as well.

Managing cancer recurrence

As unfortunate as it may seem, cancer recurrence and relapse is not unheard of in cancer patients. While it might be challenging to predict a recurrence, the risks of a relapse are known to increase when the cancer is malignant, fast growing and more advanced or widespread.

Regardless, a cancer recurrence can be frustrating demotivating for cancer patients, making them worry about the psychological and physical side-effects or complications arising from treatments. In fact, it can easily affect the confidence and motivation of patients to continue with the treatment to fight against the cancer.

This makes it imperative for cancer patients to understand the possibilities of cancer recurrence and associated ramifications so they feel empowered to take charge of their own journey to recovery. This includes understanding lifestyle modifications such as changes in diet, exercise, sleep patterns to maintaining good mental health as they ready themselves for treatment. Cancer patients also need to be educated on the importance of regular screening for early detection of a relapse.

Staying motivated throughout your cancer care journey

The battle against cancer does not come easy for anyone. A cancer survivor has to navigate several challenges in their everyday lives. This includes recovery from the side effects of the treatment, changes in lifestyle, and societal stigmas associated with cancer. Most often, patients may have the urge to jump right back into their daily routines considering the repercussions. Unfortunately, in most cases, it might be physically stressful and take longer for them to get back to their familiar routines. This sometimes leads to demotivation.

In order to stay motivated and well-informed, cancer survivors should consider steps like lifestyle and diet modification to stay in remission, counselling and regular screening as part of their routines to resume normal life after treatment.

“Surviving cancer can be an arduous journey given the physical and mental challenges, financial burdens and possibility of recurrence. This June, want to express our admiration to cancer survivors, for their courage and perseverance, and want to dedicate the whole month of June as a reminder to cancer patients and survivors to continue to take care of themselves, to acknowledge their caregivers and also to share information to the community about survivorship,” said Phoebe Ho, CEO of IOC.

Surviving cancer can be challenging especially with physical and emotional changes, financial hardship or possibilities of recurrence.

It takes tremendous efforts to overcome each battle whilst the patient undergoes his or her treatment journey.

Celebrating Cancer Survivors Month is a way that IOC offers support to cancer patients and their caregivers in their fight against cancer. We also hope to spread awareness of the possibilities of survivorship with quality cancer treatment.

Join IOC in June as we:
Celebrate those who have survived cancer
Inspire those who were recently diagnosed
Recognize caregivers and their families
Reachout to the community with messages of hope

Check out our Facebook page for more information on Cancer Survivors’ Month, facebook/iocasia.com

#celebratinglifeeveryday