A shabby row of two-story buildings in west Beijing, a few hundred meters from one of China’s top cancer treatment and research hospitals, they house untold misery. Known locally as “cancer hotels,” they provide a cheap, temporary accommodation for hundreds of patients in a country where a cancer diagnosis can be financially, as well as physically, devastating.

They have used one of the modest guesthouses as a place to wait for chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy at the nearby hospital since her diagnosis with cervical cancer in September 2014. There’s no nursing care in their lodgings, but a communal kitchen allows them to live cheaply as well as draw support from fellow sufferers.

The World Health Organization says cancer rates in China are growing “ferociously,” with 2.2 million men and women dying of cancer each year — many of which could be prevented. Lung cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in men, breast cancer for women.

Bernhard Schwartlander, WHO Representative in China, told CNN that the cancer hotels that have sprung up around reputable hospitals in many major cities are a response to weaknesses in China’s healthcare system — most patients don’t have affordable access to good quality cancer treatment close to where they live, he said.

Cancer treatment can be very expensive and costs are insufficiently covered by basic health insurance, he said. “Paying out of pocket for the cancer drugs can be a huge financial drain on poor rural households.” “Therefore, there is a serious risk that for many people, a cancer diagnosis can be financially catastrophic — and push a household into poverty.”

Even though most county hospitals have cancer diagnosis and treatment capacity, some people believe the quality of care is better in cities, he said. But their decision to head to prestigious hospitals was not always the best course of action, he added. The real quality of care, once things like waiting times are taken into consideration, is not always better — although some rare cancers can only be treated by specialists in larger cities, he said.