--As over 15 health radiographers undergo capacity-building training
The health professionals gained technical knowledge of the existing legal framework for establishing Liberia's regulatory control.
Monrovia, August 28, 2024: Liberia's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has assured its commitment to ensuring the highest degree of safety in using nuclear and radiation materials.
On Tuesday, August 27, 2024, the Government of Liberia, through the EPA, concluded a day-long basic occupational radiation safety and protection training for health professionals at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital.
The health professionals gained technical knowledge of the existing legal framework for establishing Liberia's regulatory control.
The EPA added that part of this enforcement involves fulfilling its international obligations to train, create awareness, and implement one of these international obligations, which is the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Liberia became an IAEA member state in 1962 and has consented to uphold and promote the institution's objectives by promoting the peaceful use of nuclear and radioactive materials to protect lives, properties, and the environment.
Under the Environmental Protection and Management Law of Liberia, Part IV Sections 44, 45, and 46, the EPA has established a regulatory framework for the control and use of radiation sources in Liberia.
The training has benefited health facilities such as Aspen Medical International Liberia, Jamale, St. Joseph Catholic Hospital, and John F. Kennedy Medical Center.
Sponsored by the EPA, the basic occupational radiation safety and protection training is intended to provide radiographers from the first batch of medical facilities invited some basic technical knowledge of the existing legal framework for establishing Liberia's regulatory control.
Furthermore, the capacity-building training seeks to educate participants on the use of radiation sources in Liberia.
It also seeks to educate them to provide technical knowledge on various basic and operational safety principles to ensure the safety of radiation workers, patients, members of the public, and the environment.
Making a brief remark at the training, EPA Executive Director, Dr. Emmanuel K. Urey Yarkpawolo noted the EPA's commitment to ensuring adequate assessment of radiological equipment for their effective workings.
He boasted that the Boakai-Koung administration through the EPA continues to enjoy the support of the IAEA, the United States Center for Disease Control (US-CDC), and other international partners.
He indicated that the EPA strives to promote the peaceful use of nuclear technology for the good of humanity.
As a mark of its commitment to a culture of safety for radiographers, patients, and members of the public, the EPA will provide each participant with Personal Radiation Dosimeters to monitor exposure levels at their workplaces.
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The IAEA supplied the Dosimeters under a Technical Cooperation Program.
Dr. Yarkpawolo detailed that the exposure data from the Dosimeters will be periodically recorded by EPA radiation Protection Officers, and requisite advice or recommendations will be provided based on exposure levels.
"We will continue to explore more avenues for mutually beneficial partnerships. [A] Few weeks ago, the Government of Liberia, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, signed onto six international treaties," he said.
He named the treaties the Convention on Assistance in the Case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency Convention on the physical protection of nuclear materials.
