On February 16, INVAP signed an agreement to provide three turnkey nuclear medicine and radiotherapy centers to Bolivia. The ceremony took place in Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Bolivia), with the presence of the President of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Mr. Evo Morales.
The contract was signed by Engineer Hortensia Giménez Rivera, General Executive Director of the Bolivian Atomic Energy Agency (ABEN, in Spanish), and Dr. Vicente Campenni, General Manager of INVAP. Other authorities also present were: Mr. Rafael Alarcón Orihuela, Minister of Energy of Bolivia; Dr. Ariana Campero, Minister of Health of Bolivia; Mr. Normando Miguel Álvarez García, Ambassador of Argentina in Bolivia; Mr. Roberto Dupuy, Argentine Consul in Santa Cruz; and on behalf of INVAP, Lic. Héctor Otheguy, President of the Board of Directors, and Engineer Juan Carlos Rodríguez, Manager of Information and Communications Technology Projects and of Technological Services.
The agreement includes the complete design of the centers; their construction, equipment and start-up; the training of human resources, local professionals’ advice to start the centers’ activity and remote support and consultancy services for their sustainable management. The centers will be located at the Bolivian cities of El Alto, La Paz and Santa Cruz de la Sierra, and are expected to be operational in 2020.
The aim of the project is to provide health care capacity to the community through nuclear medicine imaging for the early diagnosis of oncological, cardiac, neurological and other diseases; and to provide radiotherapy and chemotherapy for the treatment of cancer.
A unique feature of the project is that through it all the academic centers of the Argentine National Commission of Atomic Energy (CNEA, in Spanish) and its associated organizations will be involved in teaching and training the staff in all the areas of the Nuclear Medicine and Radiotherapy Centers. It includes the training of 90 Bolivian officials.
INVAP is especially grateful for the support provided by the office of the Chief of Cabinet; the Ministry of Energy and Mining through the Undersecretariat of Nuclear Energy; the CNEA; Mr. Normando Miguel Álvarez García, Argentine Ambassador to Bolivia; and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the International Security, Space and Nuclear Affairs Administration (DIGAN, in Spanish).
The implementation of this turnkey project is a relevant case of technology transfer to our sister nation and places Argentina once again as a global example on the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
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Bolivian Atomic Energy Agency
