The Nigerian Association of Medical Physicists (NAMP) has opposed the National Council of Radiology and Radiation Medicine (NCRRM) Bill, which is being considered for passage by the House of Representatives, describing it as needless.
The Bill titled: “A Bill for an Act to establish the National Council of Radiology and Radiation Medicine (NCRRM) to provide for the control and practice of the profession of Radiology, Radiation Medicine, Nuclear Medicine, Radiotherapy, Radiography, Medical Physics and Technology and other related matters,” was brought before the House by Hon. Patrick Asadu.
In a statement by its President, Professor Moses Aweda, and Secretary Dr. Taofik Ige, the association said Medical Physics Bill, an Executive Bill, which has reached advanced stage of its proposition, has taken care of all issues concerning registration, training, qualification, practice, ethics, among others, being raised in the said NCRRM Bill. The Bill is, therefore, not only unnecessary, but least relevant to medical physics.
They said NAMP was unequivocally opposed to the proposed NCRRM because it is apparently taking over the job of NNRA as it seeks to register and monitor radiological facilities.
“They said the Bill is retrogressive in nature rather than progressive in a world where technology in medical and paramedical disciplines is fast advancing, hence promoting fast growth. The administrative system as provided by the said NCRRM Bill will create bottleneck, retard inter-disciplinary research and development, thus making the concerned professions and specialties and sub-specialties lag behind in the fast-growing world.
“NAMP considers the NCRRM Bill as most unnecessary, most irrelevant, futile, barren, inappropriate, without genuine focus and empty. The Bill will lead to waste of time, material, financial and human resources due to its retrogressive nature. There is not even one of the listed roles that are not yet in place in Medical Physics and in the different concerned professions,” the statement read.
It continued: “And after much considerations and deliberations on the said Bill, NAMP decided to take position as follows: Medical Physics is a specialty of Physics that applies the concepts and theories of Physics in almost every branch of health and medicine. The NCRRM Bill does not portray the interest of Medical Physics. The control and practice of Medical Physics are already in place. There is no justification for the proposed NCRRM Bill as it is difficult to identify the problem the Bill intends to solve.” In the words of the body, “there is no problem with the current system in place as each profession already has a Body, and has been, to date, operating a good standard through the accreditation system put in place, which serves as quality assurance.
“The regulation of the practice of radiation medicine, which the NCRRM Bill seeks to address, is already in place. The Nigeria Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NNRA), the watchdog for radiation safety in the country, is in place to ensure safe practice, not only in medical and para-medical practices, but also in the Industrial applications of ionising radiations. Passage of the Bill will amount to duplication of duties, waste of govern-ment’s scarce human, financial and material resources.”
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