Today dawns a new era in state-of-the-art radiation therapy with Tauranga's new $35 million Kathleen Kilgour Centre officially blessed.

At 6am the 3000m2 facility was blessed with the centre's managing director Mark Fraundorfer, Minister of Health Tony Ryall and Bay of Plenty District Health Board chair Sally Webb in attendance.

Minister of Health Tony Ryall and Kathleen Kilgour Centre managing director Mark Fraundorfer.

The facility, housing three treatment spaces and supporting clinical areas, will officially open and begin accepting referrals on October 1.

It will offer services and support to people in the Bay of Plenty and beyond, providing both public and privately funded patients utilising world-class radiation technology and expertise.

Minister of Health Tony Ryall says the privately funded project puts Tauranga on the map as having one of the state-of-the-art facilities in the Southern Hemisphere.

The centre is partnering with the Bay of Plenty District Health Board to deliver high technology, highly efficient cancer treatment in a response to the growing need for a new radiotherapy facility in the Bay.

Being integrated with the public service the facility means about 500 Bay patients will no longer have to do a 'round trip” to Hamilton to receive treatment, says Tony.

'This is going to be providing a complete service to the people in the Bay of Plenty.”

Within the centre a state-of-the-art CT scanner and advanced computer software will be used to diagnose and plan treatments respectively.

'They have brought two of the very latest Elekta Linear Accelerators. You would be pretty hard pushed to find anything more up to date.”

Adding to the facility's allure is its environmentally-friendly feel with the roof entirely in solar panels, an automated heating system and a system harvesting its own rain water.

For Tony, this morning's blessing is his last official task as Minister of Health, as he'll retire from politics after Saturday's election.

'I have made improving cancer services a real priority for the government and to see cancer radiation services up and running in Tauranga is just capping a great six years that I have enjoyed working in the health sector.”


Local kaumatua Tamati Tata and Minister of Health Tony Ryall.

Kathleen Kilgour Centre managing director Mark Fraundorfer, Minister of Health Tony Ryall, BOPDHB chair Sally Webb, and Tauranga MP Simon Bridges on the back end of one of the Elekta Linear Accelerator.

Kathleen Kilgour Centre director Nell Dawson, kaumatua Tamati Tata, and Kathleen Kilgour Centre managing director Mark Fraundorfer.

Tony Ryall and Mark Fraundorfer with one of the Elekta Linear Accelerator.