In Bangladesh, the first activities of medical physics education started in 1994 at the Physics Department of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). In 1996, a cooperation conference/workshop and training in medical physics between Bangladesh and Germany was started by Task Group-K16, “Medical Physics in the Developing Countries,” of the German Society for Medical Physics (DGMP). Five seminars/workshops were organized in Bangladesh between 1996 and 2000 and attended by 70-80 participants each year (physicists and radio-oncologists) with the initiative of Prof. Dr. Golam Abu Zakaria. The main goal of these seminars was to disseminate information regarding the importance of medical physics and motivate physicians to become medical physicists. One of the main urges of these seminars was to open medical physics courses in Bangladesh. Then the first impetus came from that time to start a Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering in Bangladesh. Dr. Golam Abu Zakaria, Professor of Medical Physics and the initiator of the above-mentioned seminars, was trying to open a department in public universities like BUET. However, at that time, this subject was new in Bangladesh, and it was difficult to open such a department in public universities for several reasons.
In 2000, a private university called Gono Bishwabidyalay (University) came forward to accept his proposal of starting a master’s program both in medical physics and in biomedical Engineering. The department was the result of enormous discussions with experts from the different public and private universities and authorities of the University Grant Commission (UGC). This was the first attempt to establish a full-fledged Master course in Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering officially in 2001. The University Grant Commission of Bangladesh officially recognized this course (with 2 years of duration). Later in 2005, a four-year Bachelor course was launched. The syllabus of these courses is based on the documents of DGMP, AAPM, and IAEA that cover all important aspects of medical physics according to the needs of Bangladesh.
From the beginning, a collaboration program has been materializing between Heidelberg University, Germany, and Gono University, Bangladesh, to provide quality education and training. In the years 2003-2006, 19 students and 5 teachers were educated and trained in the German Cancer Research Center and Heidelberg University Hospital under the student-teacher exchange program between Gono University and Heidelberg University financed by DAAD (German Academic Exchange Program). This collaboration was extended in 2014, including Mannheim Medical Center, for another 4 years from 2014-2017, educating 40 MP for research, teaching, and clinical practice in Germany and Bangladesh. With the help of appropriate resources and experienced and young, dynamic teachers, approximately 30 MSc and 73 BSc degrees were reached. To support education in the future, e-learning platforms will be set up and research networks will be established to encourage the already existing research work. MPBME already has expanded its cooperation with many hospitals and universities in Bangladesh and abroad, especially in Germany, India, and China.
More than 25 medical physics master’s degree students are working as medical physicists in most of the radiotherapy departments of public and private hospitals in Bangladesh, and some of them are involved in teaching at the medical physics department of Gono University.
To promote medical physics education and training and provide quality service in all aspects of medical physics, a society called “Bangladesh Medical Physics Society” (BMPS) was formed in 2009 and is registered by the Government of Bangladesh. BMPS is also officially recognized as an affiliated member by the Asia-Oceania Federation of Organizations for Medical Physics (AFOMP) and the International Organization for Medical Physics (IOMP). BMPS regularly organizes national and international seminars, conferences, and workshops in cooperation with the relevant international organizations. The total number of members of BMPS is more than 3SC50, including associate and promoting members, and gradually increasing every year. BMPS is pursuing a public awareness program for the dissemination of the role of medical physicists all over the country.