The Sumy Regional Clinical Oncology Center is a hub for consultative and highly specialized care for people with cancer. Its inpatient departments provide specialized treatment with surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy.
Cancer care in Sumy Region began in October 1946, when an oncology station was opened to see cancer patients on an outpatient basis, and as early as 1947 a 30-bed oncology dispensary was established. Over the next 30 years it gradually built up its facilities and equipment, and in December 1977 construction was completed and a new main building with an outpatient department was opened; a thoracic oncology department, radioisotope and cytology laboratories and an endoscopy room were set up.
Today the Oncology Center has seven clinical departments with 330 beds, 180 of them surgical. Every year about 7,000 patients receive highly qualified medical care here: about 3,000 complex surgeries are performed, more than 2,000 patients receive chemotherapy and 2,200 receive radiation therapy. Consultations are provided at the facility's outpatient clinic, which sees about 45,000 patients a year. In August 2013, a 5-bed day hospital was set up within the outpatient follow-up department for patients who receive chemotherapy and do not need constant medical supervision.
Examination, treatment and care are provided by highly qualified staff. The hospital employs more than 400 people: 66 doctors, 157 nurses and 108 nursing assistants. More than half of the doctors hold the highest or first qualification category, and 4 doctors hold a PhD (Medicine).
Since 2020 the facility has been headed by Volodymyr Shevchenko, PhD (Medicine). He has more than 12 years of medical experience, more than 10 of them as a surgical oncologist at the Oncology Center.
To improve specialized cancer care at the Oncology Center, the existing operating unit underwent a major renovation in 2011–2012 and was fitted with modern equipment, and new equipment was purchased.
The hospital pays constant attention to introducing new methods of treating cancer patients and improving existing ones; to the wide use of organ-preserving and minimally invasive surgery; to the prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of complications after radiation therapy and chemotherapy; and to studying the effectiveness of modifying factors during treatment (immunotherapy, cryoablation, laser surgery, etc.).
In recent years the Oncology Center has focused on improving the quality and accessibility of care for patients with malignant neoplasms, implementing state guarantees of cancer care and improving the quality of life of people with cancer.
- 1946 – an oncology station was set up at City Outpatient Clinic No. 2. The regional hospital allocated 10 beds for cancer patients.
- 1947 – the oncology station was reorganized into a 30-bed oncology dispensary.
- 1949 – the center was expanded to 50 beds, and a separate building was allocated for the inpatient unit. – 1951 – a clinical diagnostic laboratory and a histopathology laboratory were set up, and X-ray diagnostic and X-ray therapy units were put into service. – 1953 – a hospital kitchen opened at the center. – 1956 – the first gamma teletherapy unit was received. – 1958 – the center was expanded to 75 inpatient beds and 30 boarding-house beds. – 1960 – a new outpatient clinic was built, and the inpatient unit was expanded to 100 beds. – 1963 – a standard 20-bed radiation therapy building was constructed.
- 1965 – a gynecology department was established.
1968 – a new PROMIN-1 gamma therapy unit was installed.- 1975 – a 40-bed chemotherapy department was opened.
- 1978 – a 100-bed surgical building with an outpatient clinic designed for 150 visits was put into service, a thoracic department was established, and the radiation therapy inpatient unit was expanded to 60 beds. A radioisotope laboratory and an endoscopy room started work.
By 1985 – a second radiation therapy department was opened.- 1997 – an oncology course of the Department of Surgery of Sumy State University was opened at the center.
The development of cancer care in Sumy Region is inseparable from the names of outstanding doctors and organizers whose contribution to building the center cannot be overestimated.
