Radiation therapy training centre ready for African continent

Gert Kuhfahl, Customer Support Medical Physicist at Elekta and Erik Leksell, Managing Director, Sub-Saharan Africa

The Elekta Training Centre is equipped with non-clinical Elekta systems for radiation therapy, brachytherapy, oncology information management and treatment planning.

"The lack of clinicians and equipment-trained radiotherapy professionals in many African countries can impede the delivery of radiation therapy services," says Erik Leksell, MD, Sub-Saharan Africa. "The training centre will help address the problem of skilled care, both in South Africa and other parts of the continent, as older systems are phased out and latest Elekta technology introduced. The burden of cancer in emerging health systems is alarming; therefore we are committed to making radiotherapy more accessible and continue to invest in training and education on the continent."

The training centre will start its activities with 8-10 courses per year, training students on treatment planning systems.

"The impact of cancer diagnoses is ever increasing on the African continent - in 10 years it will have doubled from 600,000 to over a million," says Prof. Hannah Simonds, Head of Radiation Oncology at Tygerberg Hospital. "With only 190 linear accelerators available, radiation services are extremely under resourced. Those of us in a position to provide teaching and training must take the lead in this rapidly developing field."

"We appreciate the company's focus on the importance of technical training, so establishing the skills training laboratory in Cape Town is a blessing to us," says Professor Dhiro Gihwala, Dean of the Faculty of Health & Wellness Sciences at CPUT. "The company is drawing from its experiences in Europe, the US and elsewhere in the world with similar installations. Having access to advanced technology will give our students the confidence and competence they need to practice in modern treatment environments. The training centre - with a physicist on hand - can contribute to producing graduates with greatly enhanced skill sets in both basic and advanced treatment planning."

For more information, go to www.elekta.com.