South Korea will start operations of a heavy-ion medical accelerator in 2023, the science minister said Tuesday, a move that could offer a new and effective radiotherapy to cancer patients.

Yoo Young-min, minister of science and ICT, said the government has ditched a long-delayed project to develop a heavy-ion medical accelerator and will instead buy it from a foreign country. 



Treatment using a heavy-ion medical accelerator will be "available in five years if we place an order this year," Yoo said in a meeting with officials of the Seoul National University Hospital and Dongnam Institute of Radiological & Medical Sciences in Busan.

Busan will be home to the country's first heavy-ion medical accelerator.

The Korea Institute of Radiological & Medical Sciences said on its website that the heavy-ion medical accelerator has shown "remarkable treatment results compared with existing radiation treatment, with almost no cancer treatment side effects." (Yonhap)