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Radiation Oncology
56 Inside News
Help APROSIG Assist
Radiotherapy Departments
in Asia-Pacific
The Asia-Pacific Radiation Oncology
Special Interest Group (APROSIG) was
founded in 2012 and has undertaken
a number of important initiatives,
including the training of radiotherapy
staff in Vietnam and Myanmar. When
Prof Graeme Morgan retired earlier
this year, Dr Iain Ward and Dr Mei
Ling Yap took on the role of APROSIG
co-chairs. Iain is a radiation oncologist
from Christchurch and has had previous
experience working with departments
in the Pacific, including liaising with
the Fiji Government regarding the
establishment of radiotherapy services.
Mei Ling is a radiation oncologist from
Sydney, was a member of the Union
for International Cancer Control (UICC)
global taskforce on radiotherapy for
cancer control and co-runs the online
advocacy platform
APROSIG aims to promote safe and
effective radiotherapy by developing
activities such as bilateral exchange
visits, training workshops and the
twinning of departments. One of our
current initatives is to support the
establishment and safe running of a
modern radiotherapy department at
the National Cancer Centre in Calmette
Hospital, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The
department is currently being built and
scheduled to begin treating patients in
early 2017. This radiotherapy centre is
long awaited, as the Cambodian people
had no radiotherapy available for many
years, and prior to this, treatment was
limited to cobalt machines with 2D
planning. APROSIG is sending a team
of radiation oncologists, a radiation
therapist and medical physicist next
month to Cambodia.
We are excited to take on this new role
as co-chairs and for the potential that
APROSIG has in further supporting
radiation therapy departments in low
and middle-income countries (LMICs)
in the Asia-Pacific region. In the last few
months we have also made it a priority
to build ties with our radiation physics
and radiation therapy colleagues,
including forming an alliance with the
ACPSEM’s Asia-Pacific special interest
group, APSIG.
We are aware that there is a lot of
interest from College Fellows and
trainees to support radiotherapy in
LMICs and there is already a lot of work
being done independently by College
members. It would be fantastic if we
could bring these interested members
together to share experiences, learn
from each other and pool resources—we
encourage all to join APROSIG and get
in contact with us.
We would also like to extend our
thanks to the College for their support,
including the recent International
Development Fund Grant, which
will fund our upcoming activities in
Cambodia.
If you are interested in joining/
working with APROSIG, please
contact:
Dr Iain Ward and Dr Mei Ling Yap
Co-chairs APROSIG
Dr Iain Ward,
Christchurch Hospital
Dr Mei Ling Yap and
Dr Meredith Johnston,
Imam Khomeini
Hospital, Tehran, Iran
We welcome you to join the
APROSIG meeting at the College
Annual Scientific Meeting on Friday
14 October 7.00-7.55 am in Room 3
of the Gold Coast Convention and
Exhibition Centre.