ISLAMABAD, Sep 19 (APP): Pakistan was elected Member of the Board of Governors (BOG) of International Atomic Energy Agency for the 21st time since becoming member of the agency.
The honour reflects Pakistan and Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission’s active participation in the visionary initiatives of IAEA in use of atoms for peace and development, said a news release received here on Thursday.
The 68th General Conference (GC) has brought many laurels and honours for the South East Asian country that are very significant in nature.
Earlier Nuclear Medicine, Oncology and Radiotherapy Institute (NORI), a flagship hospital of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) in Islamabad earned accolades at international level when its contribution in cancer diagnosis, treatment and sharing of expertise with regional member states was acknowledged by none other than the Director General (DG) of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi himself during the two sideline events of the ongoing 68th General Conference.
The first sideline event, organized by the IAEA Secretariat, was titled “Realizing Hope for All: Rays of Hope Anchor Centres – One Year On”.
It is pertinent to mention that Rays of Hope Anchor Centres play a pivotal role in advancing equitable cancer care through targeted support to neighboring countries in key areas such as education, training, research, innovation and quality assurance.
Marking one year since the signing of the first five IAEA Anchor Centres, the event was held to spotlight the progress these centres have achieved; activities under way; and directions for the way forward.
It also highlighted the wide range of IAEA innovations – ground-breaking research, cutting-edge databases, state-of-the-art e-learning and virtual reality tools, to name but a few – that Anchor Centres can utilize to conduct their critical work more effectively.
On this occasion, Rafael Mariano Grossi, while recalling his visit to the hospital during his two-day official tour of Pakistan from February 15-16 last year, poured NORI hospital with appreciation for being a leader in facilities, expertise as well as willingness to share with less-equipped centres of cancer care in the region.
He further said that he was very impressed with state-of-the-art facilities at NORI hospital Islamabad and, owing to the immense potential of NORI; the hospital was among the first five prestigious anchor centres on health in the world designated by IAEA under Rays of Hope initiative.
“Now that one year has passed, NORI has shown impressive and exemplary progress among the Anchor Centres which is commendable. Chairman PAEC, Director NORI, dedicated doctors and the whole staff deserves appreciation for showing wonderful progress,”Mr. Rafael Mariano Grossi concluded.
The second side event of the GC was a Member State Event organized by Pakistan and was titled, “Pakistan – IAEA: Collaboration of Hope”. The event highlighted Atomic Energy Cancer Hospital (AECH) – NORI, one of the nineteen cancer hospitals of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission and a major resource hospital for capacity building of health professionals involved in diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
The side event highlighted the contributions of AECHs in the management of cancer burden in Pakistan and the potential role they offer after designation of AECH-NORI as an anchor centre.
Addressing on this occasion, Chairman PAEC Dr. Raja Ali Raza Anwar said, “It is, indeed, a great pleasure for me to address a community which is keen to adopt nuclear science and technology for socio-economic uplift of their countries. Pakistan enjoys a longstanding and mutually beneficial partnership with the IAEA. Cancer is one of the major contributors to Non-Communicable Diseases causing the death of 0.18 Million people annually in Pakistan. Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission gives high priority to the application of nuclear technology in health sector. It has established 19 cancer hospitals spreading all over the country with a dedicated team of 380 highly trained Nuclear Physicians, Radiotherapists, Oncologists and Medical Physicists. PAEC Cancer Hospitals cater over 40,000 new cancer cases per annum with 1.0 Million follow-up cases taking around 80 % of the country’s cancer burden. It was a matter of immense pleasure for Pakistan to have Mr. Rafael Mariano Grossi to inaugurate a state of the art Cyber Knife facility at NORI, Islamabad last year.”
Chairman PAEC further said the Commission is also working in close association with the IAEA and WHO in the field of cancer care. Pakistan is ready to support regional countries for cancer treatment access through NORI Anchor Centre under the flagship initiative of DG IAEA ‘Rays of Hope’.
The highlight of the side event was the launching of a new edition of a book (monograph) by PAEC which shows that Pakistan is firmly committed to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) considering these as items of the national development agenda.
Dr. Ali Raza said, “Currently, Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission is contributing in ten out of seventeen SDGs using nuclear science and technology. In this endeavor, we humbly present before you the 3rd Edition of a Monograph on ‘Atoms for Sustainable Development’. This monograph depicts multiple ways in which nuclear science and technology is being used in Pakistan.”
PAEC Chairman expressed gratitude to Mr. Rafael Mariano Grossi, DG (IAEA); Ms. Najat Mokhtar, DDG, Nuclear Applications and Ms. May Abdel-Wahab, Director, Human Health for sparing valuable time and gracing the occasion.
Kamran Akhtar Malik, Pakistan Ambassador to Austria and Permanent Representative to IAEA, welcomed the guests. Mr. Amer Manzoor, DG(IA), PAEC, Dr. Shazia Fatima, DG(NMO), Dr. Humera Mehmood from NORI hospital PAEC gave presentations while Mr. Ghiyasuddin, Minister Technical from Pakistan organized this event.
