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Distance assisted training for nuclear medicine technologists in anglophone sub-Saharan Africa
Author(s)
Philotheou, Geraldine Merle
Date Issued
2003
Type
Thesis
Publisher
Peninsula Technikon
Abstract
Five of the seventeen countries with Nuclear Medicine facilities in Africa have training
programmes for Nuclear Medicine Technologists (NMT's). Four of the countries are in
Northern Africa (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Egypt) and only one in Southern Africa
(South Africa). The training programmes vary from country to country and therefore
there is no common basis to facilitate regional co-operation.
Nuclear Medicine Technologists working in sub-Saharan countries do not have formal
training in Nuclear Medicine and have mostly been recruited from related fields of
Radiological Technology. A number of NMT's in these centres have enjoyed
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) fellowship training in other countries or
have attended regional training courses. Knowledge and skills, learned in well established
Nuclear Medicine departments with supportive infrastructure, are on the
whole difficult to transfer to a local situation without such support. Because of the nature
of the specialty the numbers required for training are small and it would therefore not be
cost-effective for Higher Education Institutions in these countries to set up training
programmes. There is also a lack of expertise in this field in Africa. Training was
initially supported outside the countries with loss of personnel to the departments and in
many instances loss of manpower as these trainees leave their countries and do not return.
Under an IAEA/African Regional Co-operative Agreement (AFRA) project;
"Establishing a Regional Capability in Nuclear Medicine", the following related to
training of NMT's:
1. Harmonisation of training programmes for Nuclear Medicine Technologists in
AFRA countries
2. Assess the feasibility of running a Distance Assisted Training (DAT)
programme for Nuclear Medicine Technologists
It was hoped that in this way, full use could be made of available expertise and facilities
in the region, the cost of training could be reduced and the standard of patient health care
improved.
programmes for Nuclear Medicine Technologists (NMT's). Four of the countries are in
Northern Africa (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Egypt) and only one in Southern Africa
(South Africa). The training programmes vary from country to country and therefore
there is no common basis to facilitate regional co-operation.
Nuclear Medicine Technologists working in sub-Saharan countries do not have formal
training in Nuclear Medicine and have mostly been recruited from related fields of
Radiological Technology. A number of NMT's in these centres have enjoyed
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) fellowship training in other countries or
have attended regional training courses. Knowledge and skills, learned in well established
Nuclear Medicine departments with supportive infrastructure, are on the
whole difficult to transfer to a local situation without such support. Because of the nature
of the specialty the numbers required for training are small and it would therefore not be
cost-effective for Higher Education Institutions in these countries to set up training
programmes. There is also a lack of expertise in this field in Africa. Training was
initially supported outside the countries with loss of personnel to the departments and in
many instances loss of manpower as these trainees leave their countries and do not return.
Under an IAEA/African Regional Co-operative Agreement (AFRA) project;
"Establishing a Regional Capability in Nuclear Medicine", the following related to
training of NMT's:
1. Harmonisation of training programmes for Nuclear Medicine Technologists in
AFRA countries
2. Assess the feasibility of running a Distance Assisted Training (DAT)
programme for Nuclear Medicine Technologists
It was hoped that in this way, full use could be made of available expertise and facilities
in the region, the cost of training could be reduced and the standard of patient health care
improved.
Additional information
Dissertation (MTech (radiography))—Peninsula Technikon, Cape Town, 2003
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