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Well - Motivated Radiographers As Panacea To Medical Tourism In Nigeria - Health - Nairaland

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Well - Motivated Radiographers As Panacea To Medical Tourism In Nigeria by bukkyzems(m): 12:04pm On Jul 11, 2015
Well-Motivated Radiographers As Panacea To Medical Tourism In Nigeria — Jul 10, 2015 8:09 pm | 1 Comment The likely feeling any informed patient will have is that of all their investigations in the hospital, the ones that do not involve collecting tissue specimen from them by their bedside are done with sophisticated equipment in a separate department of the hospital. That separate location is what is known in hospitals as radiology, medical imaging or radiation medicine department. The sophisticated equipment are same as what we all see in movies and on television. And the operators of those equipment are called radiographers. What investigations would a ‘big man’ possibly be looking for in Europe and America if not Computed Tomography (CT scan), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Nuclear Medicine, Thermography, Radiotherapy, Mammography (breast scanner), Fluoroscopy, Digital Radiography, Echocardiography and ultrasonography? All these are handled by radiographers. Interestingly, all these modalities, with the exception of thermography, are available in several hospitals and diagnostic centres in Nigeria. Are they functional? Yes. Are they really efficient? Yes. Are they serviceable? Yes. Are they well-manned? Yes. Manned by who? Radiographers. The other sophisticated investigations not handled by radiographers are possibly DNA tests and tissue biopsy. But if these are not the immediate concern of an individual then their medical footsteps may end up at the doorsteps of a radiographer. Radiographers are University-trained medical scientists who spend a minimum of five academic sessions in the university/teaching hospital to acquire the rare and specialised skills need to operate the sophisticated equipment mentioned earlier on. Before they are allowed to practice howeve, they are mandated by law to undergo a mandatory year-long internship and subsequently, NYSC. While many Nigerians may be familiar with x-ray and ultrasound, not many know much about other radiological equipment especially the CT-scanner. The first CT- Scanner was installed in Nigeria at the University Teaching Hospital, Ibadan in 1987 under the regime of military President Ibrahim Babangida. The coming of General Sani Abacha raised the ante as he, through the National Hospital, Abuja replicated a prototype Europe and American-like hospital in Nigeria, in addition to other state-of-the- art facilities for other tertiary health institutions across Nigeria. The greatest boost to facilities in our hospitals however, was in the regime of chief Olusegun Obasanjo through his VAMED project. Chief Obasanjo made exotic diagnostic facilities like CT-Scan and MRI commonplace. It is ironic that three decades after the first graduate Radiographers were released into the labour market, Nigerians are still not fully familiar with the expertise or even aware of the presence of such rare breeds of medical professionals. The fault for this information lacuna is not only among the radiographers themselves, but also a problem of the guidians and counselors who know next-to-nothing about the Radiography profession and hence, never mention it to brilliant minds in secondary school. Till date, the writer goes about giving career talks in schools considered the best in the locality yet the ignorance displayed by staff and students is demoralising. This ignorance is also rampant amongst the political elite as some state legislators made laws approving the training of ‘radiographers’ in some laughable schools of Health Technologies. This misguided students are churned out as quacks who can never be licensed to practice this highly technical profession. There are also politicians who indicate interest to lobby for a job for some radiographer? What ignorance! Who ever saw a radiographer looking for a job? As we say in Radiography family, ‘Jobs look for radiographers.’ That is the reality for now. Not just because the practitioners are few, less than three thousand nationwide, but because tens of thousand of medical centres in Nigeria need their services for elementary investigations like ultrasound, mammography and x-ray. As at 2003 only the University of Nigeria and UNICAL trained radiographers. Suddenly it dawned on some northern governors that they lacked skilled Radiographers to man their sophisticated medical equipment. And as practical solution the University of Maiduguri, Bayero and Usman Dan Fodio have commenced the training of radiographers. However, establishing radiography programme is one thing, motivating those who are qualified and employed, to remain in the employ of a state government is another thing. I state without fear of contradiction that more than half of the state governments in Nigeria do not have a single radiographer in their employment. The governors can ask their commissioners of health to take an immediate census on that. Ironically, every state governor rushes to build a ‘state-of- the-art’ hospital or ‘an ultra-modern diagnostic centre’ equipped with CT-Scanner and other sophisticated radiological equipment that truly gives it the state-of-the- art look. Pray, who is going to man the facilities? Radiographers of course. But Nigerian radiographers will keep running away from state governments until they do the needful. Every ‘state-of-the-art’ centre built from Akwa Ibom to Kogi, Imo to Yobe and Ekiti to Katsina will eventually turn into a white elephant project or at best, operate at a sub-optimal capacity because of the dearth of skilled radiography manpower. And this will lead to medical tourism to Europe and America and recently, middle east. Medical tourism will gradually come to a stop if the will to employ and retain radiographers is there. There is no need to go to Europe for a procedure that can be done in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Lagos or even Aba as competently as ever. The facilities are already on ground. The radiographers are available for employment. But the governments still think everybody will troop out to seek for a job. Radiographers should be lured and motivated like was done in Ilorin by a certain ‘Kwara Advanced Diagnotic Centre’, a truly state-of-the-art centre with full complement of Radiographers. Even the federal government hospitals need to up their ante to retain the services of Radiographer who are easily lured by attractive offers from private diagnostic centres nationwide as well as employers from across the Atlantic. Welfare issues concerning Radiographers should not be handled with kids gloves. Their re-training home and abroad should be annual and of utmost priority. Once remote cause of cancer is radiation. Radiographers use radiation daily in their professional practice. Therefore, the issue of ‘radiation hazard allowance’ which is not being enjoyed exclusively by Radiographers but paid to all health workers should be reviewed for the radiographer cadre to be at least 25 per cent of basic salary. Any state government that wishes to retain the services of a radiographer should not employ them like hopeless jobseekers, but should consider the exercise a special appointment that equates to a political appointment with all the privileges that accrue. That would be a good starting point. Then there would be no need to travel to Europe, to wit, to go to Sokoto for what is in your Sokoto. Adejoh, Tom (M.Sc Radiography); Clinical Radiographer; 07055302110; adtoms@yahoo.com

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