By Chioma Obinna

With rising incidence of misdiagnosis, health professionals have called for effective regulation that will provide a national framework on the use of ultrasound even as they appealed to the Federal Government to urgently reduce the import duty on medical equipment.

The professionals comprising Nigerians in Diaspora and their counterparts in the country said non availability of effective regulation has jeopardised the benefits of the modern technology to Nigerian patients.

In a chat, Professor Justin Konje, from the University  Hospitals of Leicester,  who  led a team of experts from the United Kingdom, to transfer ultrasound skills to Nigerian health professionals,  regretted that although, the technology is readily available in Nigeria many people who have access to it are not trained.

Konje who spoke at Eko Hospital’s Annual Training on the Use of Ultra-Songraphy in Health”, aimed at enabling people to acquire more technical skills on the use of ultrasound scan in diagnosis and management of patients said: “There are no regulation on what training individuals should have before they use ultrasound.

In most part of the world there are sets criteria for people to achieve before they can start applying this technology.  Unfortunately in Nigeria, anybody can buy the machine and start using.

“If you have a machine, that is meant to help you identify problems and you are unable to use that machine, subsequently, you will be failing to identify problems correctly. Or you will be labelling people as having problems they don’t have and then, you manage incorrectly.

He noted that regulation in the practice would ensure that at least people who are providing services have the minimum standards of training and the public will benefit in terms of quality care.

“Patients in Nigeria are mutilated and given most appalling services not because we do not have ability to offer the services. We have people who are willing and able to but no force to drive them forward.”

Speaking, Dr. Osric Navti, Consultant in Fetal and Maternal Medicine, University Hospitals, Leicester, said the training provides opportunity to share their expertise with local colleagues in Nigeria, adding that the goal was about sharing knowledge of ultrasound scan and its applications in the field of obstetrics and gynaecology and general ultrasound services.

The Chief Executive Officer , Eko Hospital, Olusegun Odukoya appealed to the Federal Government to consider reducing import licensing on medical equipment adding that a situation where people pay 20 to 30 percent on interest rate to buy equipment was not encouraging.

Odukoya noted that it is very important to be able to standardise  the health care delivery  services rendered to  patients and that is why Eko Hospital decided to establish the training programme in the last three years. No fewer than 30 senior clinicians from various part of the country both from public and private hospital were trained making it a total of 65 clinicians trained since inception of the programme three years ago.
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