Recently, the Comprehensive Quality Assessment in Radiotherapy (QUATRO) workshop held at Vinmec Central Park International General Hospital attracted many experts and leaders from leading oncology hospitals across the country. The workshop aimed to discuss safety requirements and quality assurance standards in radiotherapy practice.
Within the framework of the technical cooperation program between Vietnam and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 2023, the Ministry of Science and Technology, IAEA, in collaboration with Vinmec Central Park International General Hospital and Nguyen Tat Thanh University, co-organized the workshop. This allowed guests to gain a deeper understanding of QUATRO – a comprehensive radiotherapy quality assessment program, and discuss safety in cancer treatment with radiotherapy in Vietnam.
Radiotherapy is an effective weapon in cancer treatment, but it is also an extremely complex technical field that requires almost absolute precision and safety. Even a small error in radiotherapy can cause life-threatening accidents for patients. Particularly in Vietnam, there is still no system of quality assurance and safety standards in radiotherapy, nor a national-level incident reporting system specifically for radiotherapy. Therefore, safety in radiotherapy is always a major concern for experts and engineers in the field.
The program featured speakers who are leading experts in cancer treatment and atomic energy from both domestic and international backgrounds: Dr. Jamema Swamidas – Director of the Dosimetry Laboratory under the Human Health Division of IAEA; Dr. Đặng Huy Quốc Thịnh – Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital; and Dr. Đặng Thanh Lương – Deputy Head of the Faculty of Medicine, Head of the Medical Physics Department, Nguyen Tat Thanh University. The event also saw the participation of over 60 experts and leaders from major centers and hospitals nationwide.
Dr. Đặng Thanh Lương shared an overview of the legal regulations for the radiotherapy field and the reality that the development of regulations has not kept pace with actual practice. This was agreed upon and further elaborated by Dr. Trần Bích Ngọc – Director of the Atomic Energy Department under the Ministry of Science and Technology of Vietnam.
Another noteworthy point is that in Vietnam, professional titles in the field of cancer radiotherapy, such as Radiotherapy Doctor, Medical Physicist, or Radiotherapy Technician, have not yet been officially recognized and are not included in the professional title system of relevant ministries. Moreover, there is no official training program for these professional titles.
Specifically, Dr. Đặng Huy Quốc Thịnh provided statistics on the current state of cancer radiotherapy in Vietnam. The country currently has only about 300 radiotherapy doctors, about 150 medical physicists, and 350 radiotherapy technicians. This is a modest number compared to the population of 100 million. He also shared the difficulties in training personnel, equipment challenges, and the constant overload in radiotherapy activities in Vietnam.
Understanding this issue, Dr. Jamema Swamidas shared about the projects that IAEA is implementing to support Vietnam and neighboring countries. IAEA affirmed that it will bring on-site training programs, especially core personnel training, as well as support in dose calibration for radiotherapy systems in Vietnam. Additionally, the focus will be on building a national incident reporting system and establishing a National Radiotherapy Safety Committee, promising to improve the quality of radiotherapy in Vietnam in the next 3-5 years. Her report on QUATRO also provided guests with a specific and detailed view of the content and criteria of this evaluation system.
Moving to the discussion part, leaders, experts, and medical professionals from major radiotherapy units such as K Hospital Hanoi, 108 Hospital, Chợ Rẫy Hospital, Vinmec International General Hospital, Trà Vinh Hospital, etc., participated enthusiastically, bringing valuable opinions. Based on the actual situation in Vietnam, IAEA, representatives from the Ministry of Science and Technology, and hospitals agreed and proposed to develop an action plan focusing on standardizing the expertise of the radiotherapy workforce.
At this discussion session, Vinmec International General Hospital clearly demonstrated its direction and mission to provide the most comprehensive healthcare quality for patients by sharing the international standards that the Radiotherapy Unit of the Oncology Center – Vinmec Central Park Hospital is currently applying.
The Comprehensive Quality Assessment in Radiotherapy workshop was successfully held with agreements on viewpoints and implementation plans from agencies and units in improving the quality of radiotherapy in Vietnam in the near future. Through this, Vinmec shows its commitment to service quality and continuous efforts to enhance treatment quality, providing the best radiotherapy treatment options for cancer patients. Vinmec is committed to the mission of 'putting patients first,' ready to contribute to improving the healthcare quality of the system in particular and the Vietnamese medical community in general.
