MEDICAL PHYSICS INTERNATIONAL Journal, vol.7, No.3, 2019
277
MEDICAL PHYSICS EDUCATION AND TRAINING IN NIGERIA
T. A. Ige
1
, M.A. Aweda
2
and M. A. Adewole
1
1
Medical Physics Department, National Hospital Abuja, FCT, Nigeria
2
College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Lagos-State, Nigeria
Abstract— Medical Physics training and education in
Nigeria is currently being offered in eight universities as a
purely academic postgraduate program. This ensure that all
medical physicists practicing in the country are master’s
degree holder and a few being PhD holder. The Clinical
Residency programme in Radiation Oncology Medical Physics
commenced in 2012 using the IAEA TCS-37 (Clinical Training
of Medical Physicists Specializing in Radiation Oncology), the
first cohort of trainees are set to graduate soon. Nigeria
currently has 10 (ten) Government and Privately owned
Radiotherapy centres. More centres are expected to go
operational shortly. More Medical Physicists are also being
trained academically and are expected to give a boost to the
professional practice of Medical Physics in Nigeria in the
coming years.
Keywords — Medical Physics, Nigeria, Radiotherapy,
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine
I. INTRODUCTION
Medical physicists are professionals with education and
specialist training in the concepts and techniques of
applying physics in medicine. Medical Physicists work in
clinical, academic or research institutions. Medical physics
may further be classified into a number of sub-fields
including the following; Radiation Oncology, Medical
Imaging, Nuclear Medicine, Radiation Protection, Non-
ionizing Medical Radiation Physics and Physiological
Measurement [1].
Nigeria is a Country located in the west coast of the
African continent and has a proximity to the Gulf of Guinea
and bordered southerly by the Atlantic Ocean. It is a diverse
country with over 200 Million people [2]. It currently have
10 centres to cater for the radiotherapy needs of her
citizenry.
Medical Physics practice in Nigeria started as far back as
1968 when the first Radiotherapy and Oncology centre was
established at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital
(LUTH).
Medical Physics Academic traning programme currently
takes place in eight (8) Universities in Nigeria. These
ensures that all practicing Medical Physicists in Nigeria are
Master’s degree holder with extremely few exceptions and a
few more having a doctorate degree.
The Clinical training of Medical Physicists with bias
towards Radiation Oncology (Radiotherapy) due to national
exigencies was started in 2012 through the support of
IAEA by the Nigerian Government under the country
project NIR/6/023 using the IAEA TCS 37 course modules.
II.
INFRASTRUCTURE
Nigeria has infrastructure for medical imaging, radiation
therapy, and nuclear medicine service points situated in the
private and public (government) centres. Radiation
protection services are also available in Nigeria through the
NNRA’s Dosimetry Laboratory (SSDL) in Ibadan and some
public institutions including the National Hospital Abuja
OSLD services and some four other privately owned
enterprises.
There are numerous medical imaging facilities in Nigeria
with them having machines such as CT, MRI, X-ray, C-arm
and Ultrasound. An appropriate estimation would be over
1000 centres.
For Radiotherapy, a vast majority of them (8) are
government-owned, They are Ahmadu Bello University
Teaching Hospital (ABUTH) in Zaria, University of Benin
Teaching Hospital (UBTH) in Benin-City, University
Colleage Hospital (UCH) in Ibadan, National Hospital
Abuja (NHA) in Abuja, University of Nigeria Teaching
Hospital (UNTH) in Enugu, Usmanu Danfodiyo University
Teaching Hospital (UDUTH) in Sokoto, Federal Teaching
Hospital (FTH) in Gombe, Lagos University Teaching
Hospital (LUTH) in Lagos and also the privately owned
EKO Hospital and the Imo project near Owerri
T
able 1 Medical equipments for medical imaging and radiation therapy
Equipment
Total
SPECT/CT
None
SPECT
2
PET/CT
None
Dose calibrators
4
Co-60 EBRT
4
Accelerator
7
MRI
85
CT
150
Mammography
60
Standard Radiology
3000
Interventional
8
Brachytherapy
8
MEDICAL PHYSICS INTERNATIONAL Journal, vol.7, No.3, 2019
278
III. REGULATION OF MEDICAL PHYSICS
The Medical Physics Interim Registration Committee
under the Department of Hospital Services in the Federal
Ministry of Health currently performs the regulatory
functions on Medical Physicists in the country. This is done
in conjunction with the professional association – Nigerian
Association of Medical Physicists (NAMP). NAMP is a
National Member Organisation (NMO) of the International
Organization of Medical Physics (IOMP) and Federation of
African Medical Physics Organization (FAMPO). NAMP
members meet annually at the association’s annual scientific
conference and workshop. This conference features
discussion on trending topics in the medical physics world
and moving the practice forward in the country.
T
able 3 Distribution of Medical Physicists in Nigeria
Medical Physicists
Total
Radiotherapy
40*
Nuclear Medicine
4
Radiology
10
Total
54
IV. EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Medical physics education and training in Nigeria is
mainly through postgraduate programs in the following
Universities; Benue State University, Makurdi (Benue
State), Federal University of Technology, Minna (Niger-
State), Nasarawa State University, Keffi (Nasarawa State),
Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, (Anambra State),
Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife (Osun State),
University of Benin, Benin-City (Edo-State), University of
Lagos (Lagos-State), and University of Nigeria (Enugu
Campus), Enugu State. Three (3) new programmes will
soon commence at the University of Calabar, Calabar,
(Cross River State), Federal University, Lafia and the
Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (Sokoto-State).
This Program has in their curriculum Radiotherapy
Physics, Radiodiagnostic Physics, Radiation Biology,
Nuclear Medicine, Radiation Protection, Ultrasound,
Dosimetry, Advanced Dosimetry, Anatomy, Physiology,
Medical Statistics and some other few elective courses.
These programmes are purely academic as no clinical
training is attached to them.
Clinical residency training started in Nigeria in 2012,
seven young physicists were selected from across various
centres in the country to be the first set to go through the
programme. This was being done through the IAEA
supported country/national project NIR/6/023 (Developing
the National Capacity to Train Medical Physicists to
Support Radiotherapy Facilities in Tertiary Hospitals in
Cancer Management). It involved clinical rotation between
National Hospital Abuja, Usmanu Danfodiyo University
Teaching Hospital Sokoto, University College Hospital
Ibadan and Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital
Zaria. It also has the NNRA’s SSDL in Ibadan on its list of
clinical rotation sites.
The programme has been managed by the Federal
Ministry of Health and was based on the IAEA TCS-37
(Clinical Training of Medical Physicists Specializing in
Radiation Oncology) modules. It suffered several set-backs
due to paucity of funds. Resources are currently being
mobilized so that the first set of trainees whose number
have now dwindled from 7 (seven) to 4 (four) can complete
the programme thus, paving way for the second cohort of
trainees who have appeared to have waited endlessly.
V.
CONCLUSION
Medical physics training and practice in Nigeria has been
very slow but steady. In the past year, it witnessed lots of
young people being recruited into the profession. More
graduates are also being churned out through the Master’s
and Ph.D. programmes in the various universities earlier
mentioned. With the new centres coming up in the country
(both government and privately owned), It is expected that
the practice is going to receive a boost in the coming years.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for
continuously supporting the practice of Radiation Medicine
(including Medical Physics) in Nigeria and the African
region. The IOMP past and current leadership – Profs.
Nusslin, Tabakov and Rehani. Nigeria Atomic Energy
Commission (NAEC), the FMoH, the Harvard University
based Global Health Catalyst (GHC) group (particularly
Prof. Wil Ngwa) and AAPM.
REFERENCES
30. INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MEDICAL PHYSICS,
The Medical Physicist: Role and Responsibilities, Working Group on
Policy Statement No. 1, IOMP, York, UK (2010).
31. WIKIPEDIA (2019) ‘Nigeria’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigeria
32. IAEA – Clinical Training of Medical Physicists Specializing in
Radiation Oncology : TCS 37 . Vienna (2009).
Contacts of the corresponding author:
Author: Dr. Taofeeq A. IGE
Institute: National Hospital Abuja
Street: Plot 132 Central District (Phase II), Yakubu J. Pam Street
City: Abuja
Country: Nigeria
Email: [email protected], [email protected]