A Consultant Radiologist, Dr Raymond Okulate, has called for appropriate legislation to check the menace of quackery in radiodiagnosis practice in the country.
Okulate, Managing Partner, MercyWay Diagnostic Centre, made the call in an interview on Monday in Lagos.
The radiologist, who decried the growing menace of quacks in radiodiagnosis practice across the country, noted that appropriate laws should be introduced to check the trend.
According to him, a legislation is needed to define the requisite training and certification a person should possess to qualify to run a radiodiagnostic outfit, which also handles ultrasound and radiographic reporting.
He stated that quackery to a great extent, could result in misdiagnosis and uncontrolled radiation exposure to patients.
“There is need to strengthen the monitoring and enforcement efforts to ensure that only qualified individuals and facilities that are properly registered are providing such services in the country.
“This is because, once you have a quack providing services, apart from the fact that he’s not bound by any ethics or law, it means he can do anything, and if he does, you do not have any ethical control over him.
“Misdiagnosis or inaccurate diagnosis leads to wrong management of patients, which can lead to grave consequences on the patients.
“A radiologist is a medical specialist, who after minimum of six years of undergraduate training becomes a medical doctor and further undergoes a minimum of six years postgraduate training in an accredited institution.
“Three levels of rigorous examinations must have been passed before a radiologist is certified as a specialist to conduct and interpret all modalities for body imaging to diagnose accurately or treat ailments of the body,’’ he said.
Okulate underscored the importance of radiology in the detection and treatment of diseases.
He added that efforts should be made to ensure that radiology services were rendered by competent and certified personnel.
He, therefore, called for more collaborative efforts between government, individuals and corporate organisations to provide state-of-the-art radiology equipment, particularly in the public tertiary health institutions for effective emergency care services.
He decried the absence of computed tomography machines in most hospitals across the country.
“At least, 64-slice computed tomography (CT) scanner is needed for testing the heart effectively.
“As at today, we still have limited number of such scanners in functional state across the country, both in private or public health institutions.
“There is need for greater Public-Private Partnership (PPP) framework, aimed at ensuring that this capital-intensive service is made available in all our tertiary health facilities across the country.
“This will enable Nigerian radiologists to offer radiodiagnosis services that are comparable to such specialised services anywhere in the world,’’ Okulate said.
NAN
