575 
The largest public-private partnership (PPP) project in the German healthcare sector is to be launched with the construction of northern Germany’s first particle therapy centre (PTC).
The University Clinic of Schleswig-Holstein has commissioned a consortium of bidders, including Siemens, Bilfinger, Berger and HSG Technischer Service to build the centre, at a cost of around €250 million.
The centre aims to be a treatment leader for cancer, and is intended to serve southern Scandinavia as well as northern Germany. When complete, the facility will have three treatment rooms, about to treat approximately 3,000 patients with particle therapy a year.
The contract covers the financing, construction, operation and maintenance of the particle therapy centre in a public-private partnership over a 25-year period.
In addition to the particle therapy facility, the PTC will also include a conventional radiotherapy department. Conventional radiotherapy is scheduled to begin at the end of 2011, with the particle therapy services planned to begin at the beginning of 2012.
“The Kiel PTC represents a milestone for medical engineering solutions and partnership models in oncology. The Competence Center for Radiotherapeutic Oncology in Kiel will set the trend for additional particle therapy centres in Europe and the United States,” said Prof Dr Erich R Reinhardt, CEO of the Siemens Healthcare Sector.
