Grace Edema
The Faculty of Radiology, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, has appealed to the government to provide modern equipment and encourage radiologists to stay in Nigeria.
Speaking at the 2022 Faculty Day Celebration of Faculty of Radiology, titled, ‘Role of Interventional Radiology, in modern medicine in Nigeria,’ with subthemes; How to set up a sustainable interventional radiology practice’ and ‘Interventional radiology in Hepatic malignancies,’ a renowned radiologist, Prof. Gbadebo Awosanya, maintained that LUTH had started interventional radiology over 30 years, saying they were, however, limited, due to lack of equipment and as such, they resulted to improvising.
He said, ‘‘We need equipment and manpower. We have manpower but we don’t have enough. What the manpower is going to use in carrying out these procedures is not readily available. You are talking of CT cameras, you’re talking of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, you’re talking of horoscopy, particularly the catheters, and all the guard wires, and all the things we need to use in getting to the organs of interest are not readily available. So we have been improvising.
‘‘We are limited because of equipment there wouldn’t have been a need for people going for medical tourism.’’
Also speaking, Faculty chairperson, Prof. Rachael Akinola, added that ‘‘Apart from equipment, the government should encourage the professionals to stay in the country and even the existing specialists should be retrained so that they will be conversant with what obtains over there because things are changing every day in the developed countries.
“But here we are just using what we have, which may not serve the exigencies of what the patients need.
“The professionals that are even available are leaving because of the brain drain issue, so we have a lot of problems setting up interventional radiology as it should be.’’
The Chairman, Local Organising Committee, Dr. Caleb Yakubu, described radiologists as doctors who are specialists in carrying out radiological procedures, and investigations, adding that they also interpret those investigations.
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