African medical physics organisations to set up secretariat in Accra

The Council of the Federation of African Medical Physics Organisations (FAMPO) has selected Ghana as host of its secretariat.

The decision, which received the unanimous endorsement of the 30-member African organisations, was announced at the FAMPO extraordinary meeting via a virtual platform.

The core mandate of the secretariat will be to coordinate activities of the federation in promoting medical physics in Africa.

Rationale

The Vice-President of the Executive Committee of FAMPO, Dr Francis Hasford, said Ghana got the nod because of its exceptional achievements in education, training and professional practice of medical physics.

"The immense contribution of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission in this regard cannot go unmentioned,” he added.

Dr Hasford, who is also the Head of the Medical Physics Department at the Graduate School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences (SNAS) of the University of Ghana, said the choice of Ghana as host of the secretariat would make the country a regional hub for medical physics. 

"It is highly anticipated that the siting of the FAMPO Secretariat in the country will not only contribute to attracting medical physics students from other African countries to study at the SNAS but also attract key projects in radiation medicine,” he added.

“Ghana is one of the few countries within the region with legislative recognition for the profession. It is anticipated that the experiences of Ghana will bring to bear in managing this very important secretariat," Dr Hasford said.

He said plans were advanced to acquire office space for the secretariat.

Statement

A statement signed by the acting Director, Commercialisation and Communication of FAMPO, Ms Sheila Frimpong, said the federation was established in 2009 to ensure high professional standards among member organisations.

It also promotes collaboration and innovation through partnership with organisations and academia and also promotes talent, information and ideas that lead to advances in the medical application of radiation.

Member countries of FAMPO include Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon and Egypt.

Others are Algeria, Angola, Ethiopia, Gabon, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali and Mauritania.

The rest are Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, Niger, Rwanda, South Africa, The Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.