• •Continuing
professional

development
the way forward

Jan Labuscagne
MBChB, MMed (Pret)

Chairman, Congress Committee, RSSA, and
Radiologist in private practice, Pretoria

Continuing professional develop-
ment (CPD) has moved into a new
era with the acceptance by the Health
Professions Council of a formal CPD
points system. It is now necessary to
accumulate points in order to stay eli-
gible to practise medicine. Previously
the attendance of congresses, sympo-
sia and workshops was a voluntary ex-
ercise. This has changed now and the
need for a structured Continuing Pro-
fessional Development Program is
greater than ever.

The Radiological Society of South
Africa regards the organization of
CPD programs as part of its core busi-
ness. The South African Radiological
Congress is set to become a regular
event. Discussions are under way to
decide the frequency and format of
this event. The aim is to accommo-
date in this meeting a combination of
didactic and scientific sessions in or-
der also to stimulate local research.

-

A second initiative is the forma-
tion of the Continuing Professional
Development Trust Fund of the Soci-
ety. The aim is to accrue a capital sum
of three million Rand. The income
from this fund will provide the nec-
essary finances to organize two to
three Radiological workshops a year.
These workshops will address various
Radiological topics as well as new
techniques or modalities.

Several of the international com-
panies that sell radiology equipment,
film, and contrast media in South Af-
rica have been approached to become
contributors to this fund, and quite a
few have already pledged their con-
tributions. The fund is however prin-
cipally the property of and to the ben-
efit of the members of the RSSA. It is
therefore imperative that all members
of the Society contribute to this fund
in order to make CPD in radiology
accessible to all members.

As stated above, the income of the
fund will be used to organize work-
shops on various topics. Contributors
to the fund will be able to attend these
workshops free of charge. These work-
shops will be held on consecutive week-
ends in two different locations in the
country. As travel and accommodation

4 SA JOURNAL OF RADIOLOGY· January 2000

usually constitute by far the greatest
part of the cost of attending a meet-
ing, this arrangement should result in
substantial state savings to radiologists.

A Board of Trustees representative
of all contributors will govern the
fund. An independent administrator
will be appointed by the Board to
ensure proper and safe investment of
the fund. The fund will be registered
as a non-profit organization and, ac-
cording to law, a certain percentage
of the income of the fund will have
to be reinvested in order to ensure the
long-term growth of the fund.

All stakeholders will be able to
propose topics for the workshops. An
Educational Committee will be estab-
lished to control the standard and
content of the workshops. The ven-
ues and topics will be decided upon
well in advance and will be advertised
on the fund's Web page.

Letters will soon be sent to all
members of the Society, explaining
the fund and its mission. A five-year
pledge of less than R200 per month
will ensure free access to all the work-
shops for the rest of the contributor's
working life. In addition, a lasting as-
set will be established for the Society.
This may expand into other projects
such as scholarships for young radi-
ologists to attend institutions abroad,
as well as funding of radiologists to
attend other local meetings.

As Chairman of the Congress
Committee of the RSSA, I am proud
to be associated with this initiative. I
urge all members of the Society to
become contributors to their own
CPD fund and in so doing, ensure
their own future.