Tran Van Thuan, director of Hanoi's K Hospital, one of the biggest in Vietnam and specializing in cancer treatment, announced the figures collected by the World Health Organization’s Global Cancer Observatory on Tuesday.

He said Vietnam currently has eight specialty hospitals and 69 general hospitals treating the disease and they could more or less treat all cancer cases.

But with 165,000 new cases diagnosed last year and the number expected to rise this year, "fighting cancer is now an onerous task," he told a meeting held between Vietnam and the U.K. in Hanoi to discuss cooperation in treating the disease.

Liver cancer is the most common among men in Vietnam, followed by lung, stomach and colorectal cancers. Among women, breast, stomach and lung cancers top.

K Hospital, which collaborates with the U.K. for clinical research, is now studying methods to treat breast cancer.

It has also established a clinical research center, the first on cancers in Vietnam.

A report by the World Cancer Research Fund International on cancer-prevention research related to diet, nutrition and physical activity ranked Vietnam fourth out of 25 countries in the number of liver cancer cases last October.