Overview

The Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt 57357(CCHE 57357), widely known as Hospital 57357, is a unique healthcare institution and an ultimate example of what can be achieved when people work together for a common goal. The people of Egypt and friends from all over the world, most notably in the Arab World, have contributed generously to establishing the hospital, which has been entirely built by donations. Egyptians from all walks of life rallied around the setting up of a state-of-the-art pediatric oncology hospital to achieve the dream of a better tomorrow for their children with cancer.

Inspired by the model of the St. Jude Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, in the U.S., the Children’s Cancer Hospital Egypt 57357 (CCHE 57357) is the largest Hospital in the world in capacity (300 beds). It was established in 2007 with the mission of providing the best comprehensive family-centered quality care and a chance for a cure to all children with cancer seeking its services, free of charge and without discrimination.

Since the inception of the 57357 Project, the focus has been on providing the best comprehensive quality care and an opportunity for cure. Hence, the Hospital constantly offers its patients a wide range of updated diagnostics and treatment services, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery, bone marrow transplant, multi-disciplinary clinics, physical rehabilitation, socio-psychological care, palliative care, survivorship care, and in-house schooling.

Since its inception, CCHE 57357 administrators and top management realized that carrying out research in medical and non-medical areas of Hospital operations was a pre-requisite to progress in achieving a cure and a better future for our children with cancer. Hence, the adoption of the most advanced health informatics system by Cerner enabled the complete digitalization of hospital operations, the acquisition of a robust database, and the transformation into a paperless hospital.

Not only is this project attempting to increase the childhood cancer survival rate in Egypt from less than an estimated 40% to the Western rates of 80-85% overall survival, it is also attempting to create a new system of healthcare where management and treatment utilize the most scientific approaches practiced today. After 17 years of operations, the hospital recorded a 71.4% average overall survival in 2023. It has become not merely a hospital but a leading example for healthcare, a change agent, and a comprehensive institution for fighting childhood cancer.

57357 is the largest pediatric oncology hospital in the world in capacity, with 300 inpatient beds; the hospital is staffed with 2559 employees, including:

• 423 Full and Part part-time physicians.
• 649 Qualified Nurses.
• 150 Pharmacists in different jobs and activities.
• 80 Basic and Clinical Researchers.
• 774 employees in the Administration sector (Non-Medical Services).

The idea of a state-of-the-art Hospital for children with cancer took root when the late Professor Dr. Reda Hamza, Dean of the National Cancer Institute in 1995, advised that a separate hospital would improve their survival rates further. AFNCI was responsible for tendering and implementation of design, construction, electro-mechanical, interiors, equipping, health management, and fundraising for the entire CCHE project. In 2004, the Children’s Cancer Hospital Foundation 57357 was formed to take the hospital into the next phase of start-up and operation.

Planning for the hospital began in 1998 with the formal creation of the Association of Friends of the National Cancer Institute (AFNCI), whose mandate back then was to improve the lives of cancer patients at the National Cancer Institute. The Association, which had initially and informally brought together many NCI’s pediatric oncologists with the Society’s renowned businessmen and charitable women, was instrumental in considerably improving the outcome of children with cancer at the National Cancer Institute.

The Children’s Cancer Hospital Foundation 57357 (reg.Jan.2004) is a legally independent non-profit organization whose vision is “to be the unique worldwide icon of change towards a cancer-free childhood.” The CCHF mandate oversees the strategic direction and financial support for Hospital 57357 in collaboration with Hospital 57357 Executive, ensuring its economic sustainability, its place as a center of excellence in care, research, and expertise, and its future program and facility expansions.

Two other fundraising entities, Egypt Cancer Network (ECN), U.S. and ECN Canada, also support Hospital 57357 abroad. Realizing that rising competition within a fast-growing charity sector threatened the amount of funds it would be able to collect locally over the years, the CCHE administration worked to establish an affiliate fundraising entity in the U.S., which became formally registered in June 2011. Since then, it has only been logical to establish a similar one in Canada.

The two fundraising entities are instrumental in providing hospital resources for patient care, scientific research, education, and training.

The present institutional structure binds all 57357 affiliates: Hospital, Foundation, AFNCI, and ECN into the 57357 working Group. Operations management is done through a board of trustees, an executive committee, and a 57357 Working Group Board.

The present restructured 57357 boards are formed of groups of highly committed, diverse, eminent professionals representing medicine, education, finance, marketing, and business. Soon enough, those groups realized that the sustainability of 57357 as a leading pediatric oncology center that is preventing and combatting Cancer rested mainly on its commitment to Research, Smart education, and quality care.

Mission: Building a sustainable foundation to prevent and combat cancer through Novel Research, Smart Education, and Quality Care provided with passion and justice to alleviate the suffering of children with cancer and their families free of charge.

The concept design of eminent North American healthcare facility architect Jonathan Bailey was to create a futuristic exterior form for the building, symbolizing a new era in healthcare and respecting Egypt’s rich cultural heritage. The design also followed the important rules of the form-following function and was user-friendly for staff patients and their families. The interior theme, widely utilizing natural light and the selective use of color, is intended to make the hospital appealing to children who feel hope, security, and a home-like atmosphere. In compliance with benchmark standards for pediatric oncology care, the patient rooms are single or semi-private to reduce the risk of infection for our immuno-compromised patients. The circular bed tower design ensures closer patient observation, facilitating the workflow and allowing targeted grouping of patients.

The CCHE offers comprehensive diagnostic services along with surgical, rehabilitation, and multi-disciplinary specialties to treat the broad spectrum of concerns that children with cancer have.

Main Features

• A total number of 300 beds.
• A design that facilitates person-centered care.
• Specialized clinical pharmacy offering a broad scope of services, including clinical rounds, outpatient services, drug dispensing and compounding, intravenous drug admixture, pain and personalized medication management, nutritional support services, patient education, and palliative care services.
• Intensive Care and Bone Marrow Transplant units.
• A comprehensive surgery department can conduct complicated tumor surgery such as neuro, micro, and ophthalmic surgery thanks to the latest equipment, such as a surgical microscope (Leica OH5) and the newest version of intra-operative MRI.
• The radiology department has two of the latest technology CT scans that minimize radiation exposure, ensuring fine-resolution pictures and quicker service delivery. The two latest technologies, MRI machines, enable more extensive coverage and precise diagnosis. All ultra-sound equipment enables the fusion of ultra-sound results with the corresponding CT and MRI imagery for better diagnostic results. The latest PACS (Picture and Archiving Communication Systems) technology provides economical storage and convenient access to images from multiple modalities.
• The radiotherapy is equipped with the latest linear accelerators, Versa HD machines with (VMAT) technology (Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy, the first of its kind in Egypt. The launch of the cyberknife radiation technology for cancer treatment is imminent.
• State-of-the-art diagnostics and laboratory support: CT, MRI, 2 PET/CT scans (using radioactive material F18-FET specifically effective for brain tumor detection), nuclear medicine, cytogenetics laboratory, virology, cord blood storage, and stem cell collection and storage. A fully automated digital pathology lab, the first of its kind in Egypt, was recently launched.
• A Blood Donation bank and clinic equipped with the latest machines to separate blood components and ensure a safe and constant blood supply.
• Play areas throughout the hospital departments to ease the stress of waiting for children.
• Designed to meet the most rigid requirements for infection control and the highest standards for environmental issues such as waste and water management and energy consumption.
• First clinical nutrition department in Egypt.
• An international standard bio-bank in Egypt for bio-specimens collection, process, and storage.
• A completely digitalized and almost paperless Hospital.
• A large outpatient capacity, able to accommodate 400 patients per day.
• Multi-specialty clinics such as pain, cardiology, dental, and ophthalmology.
• Egypt’s first specialized department of psychology, social work, and psychiatry for pediatric oncology patients.
• The first child life program and in-hospital school in Egypt for hospitalized children.
• Egypt’s first comprehensive physiotherapy department for oncology patients, including hydrotherapy, electrotherapy, and the latest workout equipment.
• Recreation therapy space.