‘Limited number of radiologists worrying’

The Director of Diagnostics at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Dr (Mrs) Augustina Badu-Peprah,  has expressed concern about the limited number of radiologists in the country.

She said the situation was affecting diagnostics at the various hospitals in the country.

There are 34 radiologists in some hospitals in the country: Four in Ashanti, two in the Northern, one in Brong Ahafo, one in Central and one in the Western region, with the rest in the Greater Accra Region.

Dr  Badu-Peprah, who is also a radiology consultant, said the number could not adequately cater for the country’s estimated population of 25 million.

She explained in an interview with the Daily Graphic during a road show, organised by Gecad Healthcare Limited (GHL), which is a healthcare, medical equipment and non-drugs consumables supply company, that interpreting images for appropriate diagnostics formed an important part in healthcare delivery, and stressed the need for the training of more radiologists.

She noted that the medical imaging had transformed medicine by allowing the physician to see the inner part of the body of the patient without making incision, adding that medical imaging had led to evidence-based medicine, limiting the incidence of ‘trial and error or guess in diagnosis, making recovery from illnesses faster.

She welcomed the GHL initiative onto the Ghanaian market and most particularly, the Ashanti Region to help boost radiology.

Earlier, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GHL, Nana Adu Boateng, stated that the road show, on the theme: “Contemporary Medical Examination and Diagnostics,” was targeted at bringing the medical community in the Ashanti Region and its surrounding regions together to explore ways of modernising diagnostics and health delivery.