Posted on: Sun 14-05-2017

The attention of the public has been drawn to an unpleasant/economy killing private bill proposed by Radiologists for an act to establish the "NATIONAL COUNCIL ON RADIOLOGY AND RADIATION MEDICINE" to provide for the control and practise of supposedly independent professions like RADIOGRAPHY, MEDICAL PHYSICS, BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING etc sponsored by Hon.Pat.Asadu representing NSUKKA/IGBO EZE SOUTH FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY of Enugu state of Nigeria.  

May i clearly point out that this bill is out of place and unnecessary. The proponents of this bill, radiologists are medical doctors by profession who specialized in radiology(which is not a profession itself but a branch in medicine) and their practise(medicine and surgery) are regulated by the MEDICAL AND DENTAL COUNCIL OF NIGERIA(MDCN) while RADIOGRAPHY(Which this bill plans to subjugate and forcefully regulate) is an independent profession regulated by the professional/government board called RADIOGRAPHERS REGISTRATION BOARD OF NIGERIA(RRBN) whose act was established by Decree no 42 of 17th December 1987. 
 

This is very crucial because a profession eg: Accountancy, Medicine and Surgery etc never regulates the practise/training of another profession eg; Law, Radiography etc, let alone having a specialty inside Medicine/Surgery clamoring to regulate the practise of another independent and full fledge profession (RADIOGRAPHY).

This bill is not for the health interest of  the public but for shear greed by radiologists. Patients should be the central thought of every healthcare professional and not financial gain from practice. Moreover the country is facing many economic challenges and it is a severe economic burden, unjust to support a bill that will have two parallel government agencies(RRBN and the ill-proposed council) doing exactly the same thing as this will be duplication of functions and can lead to economic crisis, chaos in the already heated healthcare system. 

To put the records straight, some of the functions of RRBN  (which regulates the practise of radiography) are
1. To determine the standards of training,knowledge and skills to be attained by persons seeking to become members of the profession and practice radiography as a profession.
2. Conducting examinations in the profession and awarding professional certificates and or diplomas to successful candidates as appropriate.They regulate the practise to make sure the right,licensed and legally qualified professionals(radiographers) are handling the medical equipments such as XRAY MACHINES, ULTRASOUND MACHINES, CT SCAN, MRI SCAN, RADIOTHERAPY, RADIONUCLIDE IMAGING equipments etc, because ionizing radiation from these machines are very hazardous and could lead to Cancer,impotence or even death.

These and many more are all what the new council if established also wants to be doing which is duplication of duties.

We hereby call on the general public, well meaning Nigerians, other healthcare professionals, lawyers, sound-minded physicians and our ever vibrant honorable members of the house of rep and senators to halt the passage of this ill-conceived, economically dangerous and obnoxious bill which can lead to healthcare crisis and its eventual withdrawal by radiologists who wish to do this only for their selfish gains.
Lastly, we call on the federal government, it's anti-corruption agencies to directly beam their searchlight on the health sector in Nigeria to fishout those corrupt professionals who have perennially embezzled funds meant for procurement of equipments, training of personnel, payment of salaries, day to day running of our government health institutions diverting them into their private hospitals. Let everyone know that these bad eggs in Medical practice really wish to throw the entire healthcare industry into turmoil. Let the government employ seasoned health administrators to manage our hospitals and let all of us the clinical staff be focused on patient care, diagnosis and treatment.
Thank You and God bless.

Oparaji F.U
Medical Radiographer.
[email protected]

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