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First virtual MEFOMP medical physics conference attracts 2,000 participants

Published: 20 Apr 2021 - 10:53 am | Last Updated: 02 Nov 2021 - 01:56 am

QNA

Doha: Under the sponsorship of Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) and the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS), the Middle East Federation of Organizations of Medical Physics (MEFOMP) organized the 2021 Virtual Medical Physics Conference. 

Held in collaboration with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the three-day conference was held virtually via Zoom for the first time and attracted 2,000 participants from various medical specialties from around the world, including medical physicists, clinical imaging specialists, radiology technicians, researchers, university students, and others. The conference attracted many participants from HMC, who constituted nearly 24 percent of the total conference attendance.

Dr. Huda Al Naemi, Executive Director of HMC’s Occupational Health and Safety Department and President of MEFOMP, explained that the conference discussed several topics in the fields of diagnostic clinical imaging, nuclear medicine and positron emission tomography, radiation protection, as well as the challenges facing medical physicists amid the COVID-19 pandemic as they continue to work along with other healthcare workers on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19. The contribution of medical physicists has been essential during the opening of new hospitals and field hospitals to ensure the safety and efficiency of medical equipment before using them, and thereby ensuring the safety of patients and workers.

“The conference provided a great opportunity for us to present the first book on medical physics to be published by HMC medical physicists. Authored by four HMC medical physicists, namely Dr. Huda Al Naemi, Dr. Mohammad Hassan Kharita, Dr. Shady Alkhazzam, and Dr. Ioannis Tsalafoutas, the book, titled: Quality Control procedures for Diagnostic X-Ray Equipment’ is an important scientific source for professionals with interests in this area, especially with the scarcity of books and references in this field. The scientific content of the book has been approved by the Medical Education Department and the book introduction was written by Prof. Renato Padovani, Coordinator of the Master of Advanced Studies in medical Physics at Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP),” added Dr. Huda.

Dr. Al Naemi commended the efforts of HMC medical physicists who participated in organizing the conference, including Dr. Mohammad Hassan Kharita, AED of HMC’s Occupational Health and Safety Department; Dr. Rabih Hammoud, Chief Medical Physicist at HMC’s National Center for Cancer Care and Research (NCCCR); as well as other colleagues from the region. Dr. Al Naemi also praised the support the conference has had from several international bodies, such as the IAEA and the International Organization for Medical Physics (IOMP). She noted that the conference was accredited with CPD points from the two largest international bodies in this field, namely the IOMP and the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Physics Education Programs (CAMPEP).

The conference was concluded with discussions and recommendations on the best ways to strengthen collaboration with medical organizations and boost research in the field of medical physics across the Middle East. Several speakers called for encouraging Middle East countries to provide more support to this important specialty and to introduce diploma and bachelor’s degree programs in medical physics.

Dr. Al Naemi presented HMC’s experience with the medical physics specialty as one of the leading institutions in the Middle East in this field. She explained how HMC paved the way for the advancement of this specialty across its facilities with the purpose of improving quality of its services and better ensuring the safety of its patients and workers wherever medical imaging technologies are used.