Holguin, Cuba.- A technical cooperation project between the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Territorial Oncology Center (COT) in this province was launched this year to improve the quality of medical services in radiotherapy and nuclear medicine in eastern Cuba.

The program is the second international project under way in that institution, which is attached to the Vladimir Ilych Lenin University Hospital in Holguin, some 700 kilometers east of Havana.

COT Director Nitza Sanz told Prensa Latina that the project will contribute to achieving the goal of reducing cancer mortality by 2%, increase patient survival rates and improve their quality of life, as established in the Comprehensive Program against the disease.

It also aims to improve the efficacy of radiotherapy and nuclear medicine in oncological centers in Santiago de Cuba, Camagüey and Villa Clara provinces, according to the expert in Pathological Anatomy.

Sanz pointed out that IAEA experts will hold workshops on telecobalt therapy, brachytherapy and nuclear medicine to update the protocols in those fields in eastern Cuba.

‘These courses are a complement to scientific visits and scholarships for specialists, medical physicists and technicians in IAEA international reference centers,’ she explained.

On the other hand, through the project, the Oncology Center in Holguin will receive indispensable technological equipment for the extension of brachytherapy to at least two anatomical locations, and to carry out more precise quality control of teletherapy and nuclear medicine research.