As Nigerians join the rest of the world to celebrate the 2019 International day of Radiology, the Nigeria Medical Association, NMA, has called on both the Federal and State Governments to put in more effort at ending brain drain in the health system.
The Nigerian Medical Association committee chairman on Radiation and Radiodiagnosis, Dr Ododo Bernard made the call during a press Conference in Lokoja on Saturday.
Bernard noted that, the 2019 International Radiology day is very unique as it coincided with the second National health summit organized by the NMA, where medical practitioners and other health care workers sat with health policy makers and government agencies to discuss on the problems militating against effective service delivery.
According to him, there is need to retain the Radiologists who are very vital in diagnosis of ailments of the body using various technologies.
He stated that every secondary or tertiary health facility owned by the government should be equipped with modern ultrasound scanner, x-ray machines, Computed Tomography, Magnetic resonance imaging and modern Radiotherapy facilities (for the treatment of cancers) to ensure quick and efficient diagnosis and treatment of diseases.
“Delay or inaccurate diagnosis invariably leads to inappropriate treatment which could result in further worsening of our health indices,” he said.
Speaking further on ways this could be achieved, he advised government to consider setting up of tertiary health trust fund similar to TETFUND to improve health facilities, re-channelling large chunk of retrieved looted funds into the project and considering Public Private Partnership (PPP) that is built on transparency.
Also speaking, the National President, Association of Radiologists in Nigeria (ARIN) Dr Kamal Jimoh enumerated the strategic role being played by a radiologist in the effective management of patients, stressing the need for government at all levels to provide enabling environment for this group of specialists to contribute their vital quota in the health sector.
The 2019 International day of Radiologist with the theme ‘Sport imaging’ was celebrated on 8th November across the 36 States of Nigeria, including the Federal Capital territory.
