BY SOLA OGUNDIPE
LACK of adequate opportunities for ultrasound scan training as well as the infiltration of obsolete ultrasound equipment are major factors contributing to the non-utilisation of the full benefits of ultrasound scanning procedures in Nigeria.

Medical Director, Nordica Fertility Centre, Lagos/Asaba, Dr Abayomi Ajayi, told Good Health Weekly that many of the scanners in use in Nigeria are too old to be accurate, while lack of proper training limits the interpretation competence of the physician.

Speaking recently during the 6th Ultrasound Scan Training Workshop organised by Nordica Fertility Centre, Lagos & Asaba, Ajayi observed that: “Training is first and foremost the biggest challenge, that is why we have brought professionals from the UK and USA to complement our local skills. Emphasis has been on training the doctors themselves. It is essential the operator must know what he is doing.

“We have found ultrasound machines being handled by untrained people and turn out reports that are of no benefit to the physiician. So first thing we are doing is to train the physiciaisn and let him know his limitations,” he argued.

A facilitator at the event, Dr. Christopher Ashton, who is Quality Coordinator, Pacific Medical Centre, Seattle, USA,, said one of the aims of the workshop was to enable participants gain more confidence as part of the heightened skill levels and basic background information they would derive on all aspects of imaging and diagnostic procedures.

“We are enabling them to know how to use the machines, how to position the patients and how to interprete the results properly.”

Ashton who described lack of training as the biggest barrier in Nigeria, noted that with the right skill, the correct ultrasound information could always be sought and made available.

“In Nigeria there is no basic infrastructure in place in the healthcare system for ultrasound training. There is no internship programme in ultrasound,and it takesa long time to get the required skill set, unlike in the US where it takes about a year to get well-trained sonographers to operate on their own.

We have a radiologits to back us up, but here there does not seem to be the right support system. There is need to develop the support systems between the physician and the hospita. This is why we have the participants who need to communcate with each other as they continue to grow and share information.