Implementation of quality medical physics training in a low‐middle income country — sharing experience from a tertiary care JCIA‐accredited university hospital

To the Editor: Our team wishes to share with the readers of a medical physics journal our experience of establishment of a two-year radiation oncology physics postgraduate training program. Our purpose of sharing this experience is to encourage medical physics colleagues to come up with innovative ideas and to take up this challenge of improving the quality of medical physics training in order to improve the overall health-care quality of professionals involved in the radiation oncology services of cancer patients in countries like Pakistan. The Aga Khan University (AKUH), Pakistan’s first private international university, is committed to the provision of education, research, and health care of international standard relevant to Pakistan and the region. In line with this vision, the University Hospital has established a state-of-the-art Radiation Oncology facility. AKUH is the only hospital in Pakistan, and one of the few teaching hospitals in the world, to be awarded Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditation for achieving and maintaining highest international quality standards in health care. AKUH has also received the ISO 9001:2008 certification. In the specialty of radiation oncology, medical physicists play an imperative role. They are skilled professionals with multidisciplinary responsibilities including, but not limited to, radiation safety, treatment planning, treatment delivery, and quality assurance in radiation therapy. A number of new modern radiotherapy units, such as Gamma Knife, Cyber Knife, Varian Trilogy, Elekta Synergy, have recently been installed in Pakistan and especially in Karachi. This makes the deficiency of skilled medical physicists even more critical in private sector. The AKUH has taken the initiative of ‘capacity building’ locally, with the help of international expertise, by establishing a two-year Certificate Program in Medical Physics specializing in radiation therapy to meet the emerging needs of quality radiation therapy.