By Afedzi Abdullah, GNA
Cape Coast, Nov. 13, GNA - The Ghana Society of Radiographers (GSR) has marked this year’s World Radiography Day with a call to stakeholders and the law enforcement agencies to help rid health facilities and imaging centres of quacks.
Additionally, it urged the authorities and owners of radiological facilities to desist from engaging unqualified persons or non-clinical health professionals to operate clinical radiological installations, as doing that was a breach of the law.
Mr. Prince Rockson, President of the Society, who made the call said the activities of quack radiographers were injurious to the health of the unsuspecting general public.
The Day, celebrated every year, on November 8, brought together members of the radiography profession including students and provided the opportunity for them to take stock of their performance and devise strategies to promote the profession.
“Your safety, our priority: the Radiographer is promoting and maintaining a safety culture”, was the theme chosen for the event.
Mr. Rockson said the safety of both the patients and Radiographers’ remained paramount to radiography considering the high sources of energy - routinely deployed, with its complexity and technological advancement.
He added that, understanding what influenced the culture of radiography practice could make a significant contribution to changing the attitude and behaviors of radiography professionals in relation to workplace health and safety.
“Safety can only be ensured when people know what to do to avoid hazardous situations. Radiographers are therefore given the requisite knowledge to ensure that their actions lead to safe practice for themselves, co-workers and principally their patients.”
He appealed to the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to give more attention to safety culture in Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy as the country worked hard to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
He also asked that the MOH adequately resourced the various Imaging and Therapy units, to thoroughly carry out quality control tests at regular times, saying, this was necessary to ensure the lowest practicable dose of radiation to patients and precise ultra-sonographic reports.
Mr. Rockson noted that Ghana had made significant progress with respect to radiography training and practice to meet its critical needs.
He, however, acknowledged that more needed to be done to substantially raise the number of trained radiographers and to utilize their expertise to benefit of the country.
He appealed to GETFUND and other stakeholders to provide funding for the training of more Radiographers – give them the requisite knowledge and skills needed for the emerging future technology.
He encouraged radiographers to take advantage of existing opportunities to strategically position themselves to influence policies to enhance their professional practice.
Mr. Rockson underscored the relevance of radiography to medical practice saying, “to better appreciate the importance of radiography, we need to imagine what medical practice would be like without the advances made in the application of x-rays and other imaging modalities as happening in our era and for the foreseeable future”.
Dr. Alexis Nan-Beiffubah, Central Regional Director of Health Services, described the theme for the celebration as apt as it sought to highlight the dangers in the radiation industry.
‘Every work has its risk, so also is in the health sector. And in our industry, radiography is inherently most dangerous.”
He said improving patients’ safety required more than relying on the workforce and well-designed work processes but an organisational commitment to vigilance for possible mistakes and rectifying them when they occurred.
He therefore admonished health institutions to develop a positive safety culture and to encourage staff with the right knowledge, skills and attitudes to successfully undertake responsibilities of safety at the workplace.
GNA
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