Radiology is harmful to Radiologists and pregnant women
November 8 2022, world radiology day. It is 11am, Dr Ngupa Ndam Christian, a medical radiology technician is wearing his white robe, alone in his office attending to patients like every other day. At the radiology door, the cue is endless – men, women and children are all waitig for an x-ray. As the in and out movements continue, the technician in his 30s, barely has time for a break:
“Each month, we receive about 600-800 people in the radiology room and an average of 8-15 patients daily.”
Reporter: Who are those who come for x-rays?
Radiologist: Men and women more often. Some come for standard x-rays(checking the bones), others special( checking the soft tissues) and some interventional exams( looking at the bladder or the renal system). Once their exams done, they leave either worried or happy depending on the results. Particular attention is given to women with a pregnancy below three months because during this stage, the foetus is developing and an x-ray can alter a section of the DNA which could lead to a physical deformity at birth. No specific amount of x-ray exams can be attributed to one person per month, it all depends on the situation at hand.
Reporter: What risks for patients and you the Doctors?
Radiologist: Patients are not “really” at risk because they only come when in need but those who do not leave the radiology room empty, are the radiologists who accumulate a little of the rays each time they check a patient. During each x-ray exam, the Doctor receives a dose and after some weeks, you begin to see the effects on you. In a long run, the small doses become big and if not checked on time, one could develop cancer or infertility.
He adds measures are being put in place to limit the damages on practitioners. In their unit, they use a dosimetry machine that measures the amount of x-ray they receive and after evaluation, other medics determine if the doses received are fair or bad. If results are not good, the radiologist is taken off the unit for some time. A move which handicaps many as the ratio radiologist-patient is very unequal. In 2007, Cameroon had 1 radiologist for 460.000 patients. In 2008, 40 radiologists received training in Yaounde but the demand is still above supply.
Over the years, Cameroon government officials have embraced the medical imagery branch as many young people get specialization, private imagery centers are granted authorization and special units are created in public hospitals.
