14th - 18th MAY 2007 | HONOURABLE MINISTER OF HEALTH, PROFESSOR EYITAYO LAMBO AT THE INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, SECOND REGIONAL COORDINATION AND PLANNING MEETING ON STRENGTHENING RADIOLOGICAL PROTECTION OF PATIENT AND MEDICAL EXPOSURE CONTROL, ROCKVIEW HOTEL, ABUJA,

• Present, discuss and evaluate the status of activities relating to radiological protection of patient in the participating countries predominantly in diagnostic radiology with emphasis on image quality and patient dose;
• Identify priority needs in the area of patient protection after considering actions in diagnostic radiology, interventional radiology, interventional cardiology, radiotherapy and nuclear medicine.
• Prepare country-specific Action Plans based on capabilities and national commitment by Member States and agreed Agency's input for the project implementation in 2007­2008

Before proceeding further, I congratulate the NNRA for its resolve and determination to continue to promote and enhance Radiation Protection of Patients and Medical Exposure Control in Nigeria. In this regard, I note with satisfaction the efforts of the NNRA in the Establishment of an Occupational Exposure Control Programme, which ensures that most radiation workers are monitored and dose records supplied quarterly to the NNRA. NNRA also regularly carries out activities to promote radiation protection in general, including amongst others:

• Two-week National Training Course for the New Staff of the NNRA conducted by IAEA Experts, April 2002 Abuja, Nigeria.
• National Workshop on Radiation Protection in Medical Exposure for Senior Managers of Hospitals,
  from the 25th to 26th February 2003 at the Abuja
• Two-week National Training Course for the New Staff of the NNRA conducted by IAEA Experts 2003
• National Workshop on Radiation Protection, Safety and Security of Radioactive Sources in the Petroleum Industry, 17-19 June 2003
• Endorsement of accreditation from five Overseas Dosimetry Service Providers in 2002
• National Seminar on Duties and Responsibilities of Managers and Executives involved in the Use of Radioactive Sources in the Petroleum Industry, 1-2 July, 2004, Lagos
• Accreditation of a Resident Dosimetry Service Provider in 2005
• Three other Resident Dosimetry Service Providers awaiting accreditation
• National Seminar on Duties and Responsibilities of Owners and Managers of Diagnostic Radiology Facilities, 25th April 2005, Abuja
• National Training Course on Radiation Protection in Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, 25th­ 29th April 2005, Abuja
• Regulatory Guidance for Dosimetry Service Providers (draft) 2005

Madam Chairperson, Distinguished ladies and Gentlemen, the NNRA has further established a Medical Exposure Control Programme. In this regard, the NNRA has Benchmarked Radiation Safety in Radiotherapy and Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology Practices in Nigeria. Prior to 2001, there was practically no radiation safety programme in most of the radiotherapy and diagnostic radiology centres. Consequently practices were unregulated and there were also no Codes of Conduct or Regulatory Guidelines covering them. By virtue of the Act, the NNRA has since taken measures to ensure radiation protection in radiotherapy and diagnostic radiology. In this regard and with the support of the IAEA, the NNRA developed regulations for various practices involving the use of ionizing radiation resulting in the promulgation of the Nigeria Basic Ionizing Radiation Regulation (NiBIRR) and three other Regulations for medical application safety, namely:

• Nigerian Radiation Safety in Nuclear Medicine Regulations, 2006
• Nigerian Radiation Safety in Radiotherapy Regulations, 2006
• Nigerian Radiation Safety in Diagnostic and Interventional radiology
• Regulations, 2006

The development and promulgation of the Regulations brought about the need to enforce standards and ensure compliance with the Act. Thus the NNRA carried out Radiological Audit Inspections in the five (5) radiotherapy as well as diagnostic and interventional radiology centres around the country. These resulted in sanctions in some instances, but more importantly in the replacement of Cobalt-60 sources in two radiotherapy centres. Finally, NNRA efforts resulted in the integration of radiotherapy into the National Cancer Control programme by the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) in 2005.

The Federal Government is also in the forefront of modernizing the diagnostic facilities in the nation's tertiary hospitals. Presently, there is an ongoing Federal Government Equipment Modernization Programme of eight (8) Teaching Hospitals through the VAMED Engineering project. Several state-of-the-art High Tech equipment such as Fluoroscopy, Mammography, Angiography, Spiral Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) will be installed in the radiology departments of the affected teaching hospitals.

Madam Chairperson, Distinguished ladies and Gentlemen, this Meeting is indeed another milestone in our collective effort to make the use of ionizing radiation in medicine safe on the continent of Africa. Its realization has been greatly facilitated by the IAEA, which has proved over the years to be a credible partner of the continent in the promotion of the peaceful application of nuclear science and technology. The IAEA has always provided support and guidance, not only to promote the use of ionizing radiation especially in healthcare, but also to set standards for the safe use of ionizing radiation. In this regard, the IAEA has helped in the establishment of national regulatory infrastructures for nuclear and radiological safety. In recent times, the IAEA employed the Model Project Approach (MPA) as a principal tool for achieving its strategic objective, which has been severally described as partnering with Member States to achieve productive and sustainable human capacity building in nuclear institutions. To this end the technical cooperation with the Member States is directed at promoting "tangible socio-economic impact by contributing directly in a cost-effective manner to the achievement of the major sustainable development priorities of each country". The MPA addresses the setting and maintaining of standards of quality in project design, with the ultimate beneficiaries as its target, i.e. not the beneficiary institution but the general public. Nigeria and indeed Africa have benefited from the MPA.

Madam Chairperson, Distinguished ladies and Gentlemen, it is noteworthy that in 2004, Nigeria along with 24 other African countries embarked on the IAEA supported Regional Project on Strengthening Radiological Protection Of Patient And Medical Exposure Control (RAF/9/033) with the objective of reducing radiation exposure to patient without compromising the efficacy of either diagnosis or therapy. The other participating countries are Algeria, Angola, Botswana, Cote d'ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, Niger, Seychelles, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

It is my hope that at this Meeting, the participating countries in the project shall ably present, discuss and evaluate the status of activities relating to radiological protection of patient in their predominantly in diagnostic radiology with emphasis on image quality and patient doses. Furthermore, it is also my hope that you will identify priority needs in the area of patient protection after considering actions in diagnostic radiology, interventional radiology, interventional cardiology, radiotherapy and nuclear medicine. Finally, I also hope that you will prepare country-specific Action Plans based on capabilities and national commitment and agreed Agency's input for the project implementation in 2007-2008

I thank you all for your attention and I wish you fruitful deliberations.