Take "Quack" Radiographers Out Of The System - Prez Of Ghana Soc. Of Radiographers

President of the Ghana Society of Radiographers, Prince Rockson has called on various health regulatory bodies to clamp down on "unlicensed and unqualified" radiography practitioners in the country.

The President of the Ghana Society of Radiographers expressed worry over the number of practitioners who are giving radiographic treatments to patients across the nation.

According to him, the "quack" practitioners are tarnishing the image of Radiography society and issuing doses to patients which may endanger their lives.

He explained that the activities by such people have adverse effects and possibly jeopardize the entire profession.

“The Ghana Society of Radiographers is calling on the Allied Health Profession Council. They’re the regulatory body who check on the licensing of practitioners in the country to do the due diligence in checking all radiographers who are in the various facilities. Secondly, the Nuclear Regulatory Authority and Health Facility Regulatory Agency; they check the various facilities whether they are also licensed because if you have an unqualified person in a facility, it’s against the law.

“The Health Profession Regulatory Body Act frowns at it for somebody who is not licensed to work in a radiological facility. These facilities could either be ultrasound unit, X-ray unit and radiotherapy unit. So, (those people) as our theme re-emphasizes on the quality of care that we are supposed to be providing to patients; the very unqualified people are radiation doses that are not of good quality," he said.

Speaking in an interview with Peacefmonline.com, Mr. Rockson noted that his facility has identified some practitioners who are in operation without any accreditation from the Regulatory agencies.

He therefore stated that his outfit has alerted the regulatory agencies which will exercise authority over the unaccredited institutions and personnel.

They will face prosecution as the law takes in effective course on such practitioners, he highlighted.

He appealed to the Allied Health Profession Council and the heath profession regulators to take the quacks "out of the system so that the qualified people will be in the system and do the right thing…The Ghana Society of Radiographers is going to liaise with the Allied Health Council and we’ll make sure, my term of office, will rid all quacks in the system.”

Mr. Rockson made this admonition during the celebration of the World Radiography Day on Tuesday, November 8 at the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) House at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.

The World Radiography Day is marked globally on 8th November to commemorate the discovery of X-rays by renowned German Physicist, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen.

Radiographers are medical personnel who use X-radiation, Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Ultrasound to view structures of the body for diagnosis purposes, and other group that uses higher doses of the X-radiation for the treatment of cancer.