Radiographers Want More Diagnostic Centres

The Association of Radiographers of Nigeria has called on the government at all levels to build more radiology centres in the country.

The Chairman of the Ebonyi branch of the association, Mr Kelechi Aja, said at the inauguration of the state branch of the association in Abakaliki on Saturday that the governments should also equip existing centres to surmount challenges confronting radiography in the country.

“Radiography and imagery services are critical in the provision of quality healthcare services at all levels in any nation, Nigeria inclusive. “The services are in the areas of disease surveillance, diagnosis, monitoring of treatment outcomes and in therapy. “It is a fact that medical treatment without adequate diagnostic tools result in a waste of resources, over reliance in intuition, guesswork and delay in patient management,” Aja said.

He called on the ministries of health at the state and federal levels to ensure that radiographers, who are the end users of radiological equipment, were part of the procurement process.

“This is to reverse the current trend where expensive non-functional radiography equipment bought with tax payers’ money litter our hospitals,” he said.

The chairman said that before the inauguration, some members of the association in Ebonyi belonged to the Enugu branch.

The Ebonyi Commissioner for Health, Dr Sunday Nwangele, said radiographers were important components of the integrated healthcare system due to their invaluable contributions.

“We have your presence in the rural and secondary health care sectors of the state, as your members have been posted to the 13 general hospitals and six accredited mission hospitals. “Your presence in these health institutions has helped us to reduce referrals to hospitals in urban areas which is a problem confronting the health sector,” he said.