Mourad Belkheyar, acting director general of Varian Healthcare Algeria lifts the lid on the progress Algeria has made in its quest to bring the most advanced radiotherapies to Algeria. He discusses the critical role of Varian healthcare in training engineers, operating, and maintaining such complex machinery, to improve the prognosis of Algerian patients.
Can you introduce our readers to Varian and the work that you are doing in Algeria?
Historically, Varian was a family business that started in 1948. The Varian brothers originally produced radars and detectors. In 1958, they created the first foundation of Varian Oncology Systems. They had decided to dedicate their business to medical oncology. In 1961, they built the first particle accelerator. Nowadays, Varian has become a global leader in radiotherapy solutions. Varian has over 70 years of experience and expertise in radiotherapy. The company employs 6,800 people worldwide and 7,200 of our accelerators, machines and equipment treat patients across the world at any given moment. Varian also develops digital solutions for managing oncologic information. In Algeria, the first Varian accelerator was installed in 1991 in the Pierre and Marie Curie Center of Algiers. During these years, Algeria was encountering a difficult period politically, so the installation was interrupted and resumed in 1999. In 2006, we installed another accelerator in Blida. In the meantime, Varian had partnered with a merchandiser to cover the Algerian market. Finally, in 2015, we opened Varian Medical Systems Algeria, the Algerian branch of the company. In Algeria, our team at Varian consists of 20 people, more than half of us working on technical demands. Half of our team is in the field all day. We currently have almost 36 machines to maintain across the territory. We also have pending orders to address, which we will do as soon as the facilities are ready to receive our equipment. The market share of Varian in Algeria (2015-2017) went from to 15 accelerators to 30 - 75 percent of market share. How has the market for radiotherapy and particle accelerators evolved in Algeria? In the world, there are two main manufacturers of radiotherapy equipment: Varian, with 70 percent of market share in Algeria, and the Swedish company Elekta. Siemens was once in the run, but they abandoned the therapeutic activity to focus on diagnosis only. In the beginning of the 2010s, Algeria had an obvious lack in particle accelerators to treat Algerian patients. Consequently, the Ministry of Health decided through the 2014-2019 Cancer Plan to properly equip the country with therapeutic machines. Having assessed the need, they concluded that 36 accelerators had to be purchased. Half were awarded to Elekta, and the other half to Varian. The Ministry of Health has constructed 12 Anti-Cancer Centers across the country. Each of them is equipped with 3 accelerators, for a total of 36 machines: 18 machines for Varian, 18 machines for Elekta. This contract was signed in 2014, and 4 years later Varian has already delivered 9 machines in 3 different Anti-Cancer Centers, 2 of which have already been treating patients for over a year now. The third one will open in a few weeks. In 2014, you signed a 51 million dollars contract with the Ministry of Health to equip 6 facilities. Can you expand on this agreement for our readers? As part of the contract with the Ministry of Health, the manufacturers had to be settled in Algeria. We injected resources to the creation of Varian offices in Algeria. Now we have a state-of-the-art training center, linked by optical fiber with Varian training center in Switzerland to train the Algerian and the African doctors and physicists. Indeed, there is an important need in training, and the authorities asked us to accompany them in that effort. We used to send our trainees to foreign training centers, but that created administrative red tape. We have already had 3 or 4 training sessions thus far. The other requirement of the contract regarded machine maintenance: therapeutic machines are very sensitive, and we must keep them operational so that they keep treating patients and saving lives. In order to provide 24/7 availability of our equipment, there are two considerations: Human Resource regarding engineers, and spare parts. We encountered difficulties with the latter. Our engineers would order the parts they needed, transport them by air in 48 to 72 hours, and then wait for days or even weeks before the parts would be released from the airport. This obstacle was addressed when we partnered with DHL and created a 518-million-dinar stock of spare parts on the Algerian territory. Now the vast majority of our spare parts can be delivered to any location in Algeria within 48 hours.What are your star products?
Trilogy®, TrueBeam®, Eclipse™, and our system of brachytherapy. Each city is equipped with them. Access to radiotherapy is now better, as compared to having to wait 9 months to get treatment in the late 2000s. The focus of the authorities is now to enhance the quality of treatment; all the new Anti-Cancer Centers are now equipped with state-of-the-art machines, operated with the best Algerian experts trained by Varian. The new IMRT techniques will soon be provided to our patients for instance. Varian is also present in the private Health sector, which also provides radiotherapy to their patients. We have 6 machines in private hospitals. In total, using our 36 machines, over 10.000 patients per year receive treatment via Varian therapeutic equipment on the domestic territory. This number is to be compared with the total number of accelerators in Algeria, which is 43 as of 2017. In 2006 there were 5 or 6 only in the entire country. Consequently, treatment techniques have dramatically evolved between 2006 and today. Originally, they were in 2 dimensions, but 3D was introduced in 2009 and became the standard by 2012. In 2015 there was the introduction of IMRT and other new treatment techniques. You mentioned the massive advance of Varian in terms of market leadership in Algeria. What was the strategy that allowed for this success story to happen? Varian has their very own management strategy as part of the corporate culture. Varian and its top management are highly attentive to client needs. Our CEO has visited Algeria twice already, meeting the Ministers and the President of the National Medical Oncology Association. They saw the market potential first hand. When our merchandiser first installed an accelerator in Algeria, 800 km south of Algiers, nobody believed it was possible. The challenge was hard to meet, finding the human resources, addressing maintenance needs, and managing the spare parts flows. Still, Varian proved itself and ever since 2012 has eased the pain of the patient population in the South of the country.With the 2014-2019 Cancer Plan, we answered every tender call, won a number of them, and honored the corresponding contracts.
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