Minister of Science visits first Institute in Europe for hadron cancer therapy using Ion HIT in Heidelberg

Minister of Science Dr. Sanja Damjanović paid an official visit to the Institute of Hadron Therapy HIT (Heavy ion therapy) in Heidelberg, the first project implemented in Europe, which has been successfully working since 2009. The program was organized by the Ministry of Science. The aim of the visit was to talk with the technical director, Dr. Thomas Haberer, in order to obtain information on the possible advanced technical specification of the future International Institute in South East Europe (SEEIIST), for which during this second meeting of the Steering Committee held in Tirana by unanimous decision, this option was chosen.

The technical support of the HIT Institute is extremely important since the SEEIIST Institute must be based on state-of-the-art technologies and at least partly complementary to existing projects, and which only has four in Europe.

Furthermore, besides technical director HIT Heidelberg, Dr. Thomas Haberer, manager of the second largest machine in Germany - MIT (Marburg Ion-Beam Therapy Center) Dr. Andreas Peters and Director of Beam Diagnostics at the GSI-FAIR Institute in Darmstadt, Dr. Marcus Schwickert have also payed a visit to the Institute. It was precisely the first prototype of Hadron's cancer therapy using ions built in the GSI, and the first 450 patients were treated in this laboratory. 

Hadron cancer therapy and research in biomedicine with protons and heavier ions is today the most modern and most effective method for treating a large number of cancers. Realization of this project in the territory of Southeast Europe will generate social and economic benefits for the entire region, affecting the quality of life, especially when it comes to health, as this method of treatment will be available to all citizens of the region.