During the Africa Health ExCon conference (5 to 7 June), Gustaf Salford, CEO of Elekta (EKTA-B.ST), stated that, in line with its ACCESS 2025 strategy presented a year ago, the company has so far succeeded in providing access to advanced radiotherapy to 123 million cancer patients in underserved regions. During the company’s Capital Markets Day in June 2021, Gustaf Salford said that he wanted to see more than 300 million people gaining access to radiation therapy, an integral part of most cancer treatments, by mid-2025.
“I’m very proud of what the Elekta team has accomplished,” Gustaf Salford said. “The global need for cancer care is about twice as high as what the installed base can provide, and the gap is largest in low- and middle-income countries. Reducing that gap and providing hope for more cancer patients is a cornerstone for us. Thanks to Elekta’s strong position in emerging markets with many notable orders, we are well on our way to delivering on this strategic target.”
Recent orders and installations in Africa include a wide range of Elekta solutions across countries such as Nigeria, Namibia, Kenya, and Morocco.
Salford added: “During our last year, 175 new linacs were added to underserved markets, well in line with our target. It is especially satisfying to see healthcare providers in low- and middle-income countries invest in the very latest technology, such as Elekta Unity, Leksell Gamma Knife, and Harmony Pro, our latest linear accelerator. This enables not just access, but availability to the best cancer care.”
Habib Nehme, Elekta’s Executive Vice President Turkey, India, Middle East, Africa, APAC & Japan, said: “We are committed to partnering with public and private healthcare providers to meet the need for quality cancer care. Since establishing our office in Cairo a year ago, Elekta has already significantly supported Egypt’s National Cancer Plan with Elekta systems in all Ministry of Health oncology centres throughout the country. And we hope to expand this as cancer care providers in Egypt with Elekta solutions act as technical and educational centres to support the transfer of knowledge and expertise in cancer treatment to surrounding countries and all Africa.”
Almost 280,000 people are living with cancer in Egypt, and more than half of them should receive radiotherapy to treat their disease. Elekta’s solutions have been available in the country since 1999 and in February 2021, it opened an office in Cairo.
