QUATRO Conference at Vinmec Central Park shared updates and cutting edge techniques in assessing the quality of radiotherapy

Recently, the conference on Quality Assurance Team for Radiation Oncology (QUATRO) took place at Vinmec Central Park International General Hospital, attracting many experts and leaders from leading Oncology hospitals across the country. The conference aims to discuss safety requirements, as well as quality assurance standards in radiotherapy practice.

Within the cooperation program between Vietnam and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 2023, the Ministry of Science and Technology, IAEA coordinates with Vinmec Central Park International Hospital and Nguyen Tat Thanh University to co-host the conference, allowing guests to gain a deeper understanding of QUATRO – a comprehensive radiotherapy quality assessment program, while also discussing safety in cancer treatment with radiotherapy in Vietnam.

Radiation therapy is an effective weapon for treating cancer, however, it is also an extremely complex technique that requires almost absolute precision and safety because even a small mistake in radiotherapy can cause serious accidents that endanger the patient’s life. Moreover, in Vietnam, there is still no system of standards to ensure quality and safety in radiotherapy, nor is there a national incident reporting system specifically for radiotherapy. Therefore, safety in radiotherapy is always the major concern of experts and engineers in the industry.

Speakers coming to the conference were leading experts on cancer treatment and atomic energy from Vietnam and foreign countries: Dr. Jamema Swamidas – Director of the dosimetry laboratory of the Human Health Department of IAEA; Dr. Dang Huy Quoc Thinh – Vice Director of Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital; and Dr. Dang Thanh Luong – Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Head of Medical Physics Department, Nguyen Tat Thanh University. Along with the more than 60 experts and leaders from major centres and hospitals nationwide.

Dr. Dang Thanh Luong shared briefly about the legal regulations for the radiotherapy industry and the situation that the development of regulations has not kept pace with reality. It was also agreed and shared further by Dr. Tran Bich Ngoc – Director of the Department of Atomic Energy under the Ministry of Science and Technology of Vietnam.

Another notable thing is that in Vietnam today, professional titles operating in the field of radiotherapy such as the titles of Radiation Therapist, Medical Physics Engineer or Radiotherapy Technician are still not officially recognized, nor included in the professional title system of relevant departments. More importantly, there is no official training program for these occupational titles.

Furthermore, regarding the current situation, Dr. Dang Huy Quoc Thinh provided statistics on the reality of radiotherapy activity in Vietnam. Vietnam currently has only about 300 radiotherapy doctors, about 150 medical physicists and 350 radiotherapy technicians.  With a population of 100 million, this is a small figure. He also talked more about the challenges associated with equipment, personnel training, and the constant overload of radiotherapy operations in Vietnam.

Recognizing this issue, Dr. Jamema Swamidas discussed the initiatives the IAEA is carrying out to assist Vietnam. The IAEA affirms that it will provide on-site human resource training programs, especially core human resource training, as well as support in calibrating radiation doses for radiotherapy machine systems in Vietnam. Furthermore, IAEA intends to enhance the quality of radiotherapy in Vietnam within the next three to five years by establishing a National Radiotherapy Safety Committee and a national incident reporting system. Additionally, her report on QUATRO also gave guests a specific, detailed view of the content and criteria of this evaluation system.

Leaders, specialists, and medical personnel from large radiotherapy units across the nation had enthusiastically participated in the discussion session, offering incredibly valuable insights. The Ministry of Science and Technology representatives, hospitals, and the IAEA agreed to develop an action plan that would center on standardizing the expertise of radiotherapy teams based on the actual situation in Vietnam.

Vinmec International Hospital also demonstrated during this discussion session its orientation and mission to provide patients with excellent medical examination and treatment by sharing the international standards that the Radiotherapy unit of the Oncology Center – Vinmec Central Park is currently applying.

Through agreement on opinions and plans for hospitals and units to improve the quality of radiotherapy in Vietnam in the near future, the conference on comprehensive audits of radiotherapy practice was successfully completed. Through this event, Vinmec also demonstrates its interest in service quality and ongoing efforts to improve treatment quality. Vinmec is dedicated to the goal of ‘patients come first’ and is ready to make a positive impact on the system’s medical quality as well as the overall medical field in Vietnam.