MINISTER DAMJANOVIĆ TAKES PART IN INTERNATIONAL CLINICAL ENGINEERING AND HEALTH TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT CONGRESS IN ROME

At the invitation of the Chairman of IFMBE Clinical Engineering Division, Dr. Tom Judd, Minister of Science Dr. Sanja Damjanović took part in the International Clinical Engineering and Health Technology Management Congress, held in Rome on 21-22 October. The Third International Congress brought together the world’s renowned experts in the field of biomedicine, clinical engineering, as well as scientific and academic community, government representatives, the World Health Organization (WHO), and relevant participants from the health technology industry.

The congress, organised by the Clinical Engineering Division of IFMBE, covered a wide spectrum of topics, from clinical risk management to health technology assessment, from ICT and medical informatics to international standards and regulations, from maintenance and health operations to the development of innovative devices, and many others. The overall goal of the event was to drive an open discussion to share experiences and best practices on the global impact that health technologies have on healthcare quality and effectiveness in different settings. The intention was to create synergies in the field of high health technologies and to foster partnerships between relevant actors in industry, medicine, politics and academia.

Within the panel session titled “Medical Equipment Management”, organised by the International Union of Physical Sciences and Medicine (IUPESM), Minister Damjanović gave a presentation on the SEEIIST project, informing the panel participants in more detail about the progress made in the establishment of this large research infrastructure in South East Europe. In line with the topic of the event, particular focus was placed on state-of-the-art technologies in the treatment of various types of cancer by hadron therapy and the use of a wide range of heavy ions and carbon. The Minister indicated that political and technical support to the project by WHO, as a strategic and genuine partner in this challenging endeavour, would be greatly appreciated given the successful cooperation in the region of South East Europe so far, as well as the fact that effective fight against cancer is one of the main priorities in the agenda of the organisation.

Finally, given that the project has entered the Design Study Phase, which encompasses detailed expert and technical preparation and accelerator design, business plan development and the determination of future site conditions, participation in the aforementioned session presented a unique opportunity to encourage dialogue with relevant actors present at the event.

Tomorrow, Minister Damjanović will visit CERN in Geneva, where she will sign a Memorandum of Understanding establishing Cooperation Programme with the International Particle Physics Outreach Group (IPPOG). The IPPOG is a network of scientists, science educators and communication specialists working across the globe in informal science education and outreach for particle physics, who can make a significant contribution to the further development of the SEEIIST project.