‘Nigeria Has Worst Record Of Ultrasound Abuse In The World’

ULTRASOUND professionals under the aegis of the Association of Medical Ultrasound Practitioners of Nigeria (AMUPN) have raised the alarm over the increasing rate of quackery in ultrasound practice and training in Nigeria, even as they said Nigeria has the worst record of ultrasound abuse in the world.

Speaking on Thursday during Ultrasound International Conference organised by the association, AMUPN President, Dr Femi Olagunju, said quacks should be prevented from manning ultrasound machines in the country.

The call came as the Lagos State Health Facility Monitoring Agency (HEFAMA) has promised to close down any ultrasound and other health centre being run by quacks in the state.

Olagunju said: “Ultrasound is being utilised in an ever-increasing range of medical applications. Technological advances are providing machines that are less expensive, more compact, portable and provide better images, spearheading innovative uses by multiple medical groups.

“The challenge that we who are involved in the provision of ultrasound services face is to ensure that ultrasound studies are appropriate and are adequately performed. Improved patient outcomes should always be the aim of any medical service, and ultrasound is not different. No test should be performed unless its result impacts positively on patient management. It is clearly in the interest of the patient that when ultrasound is performed, the practitioner is competent in its use and is capable of extracting maximum advantage from the test”.

The AMUPN boss continued: “Any medical ultrasound practitioner using ultrasound should be appropriately trained, qualified and registered for the manner in which he or she uses ultrasound. AMUPN has been at the forefront of promoting and sustaining the standard of training and practice of ultrasound in Nigeria over the yes, ensuring through advocacy, the strict adherence to international standard of best practices.

“We are all aware of the fact that ultrasound practice in this country is in a despicable state with reckless and unbridled quackery going on unabated. Ultrasound training centres spring up all around us without being properly screened and accredited by regulatory agencies of government. Diagnostic ultrasound centres litter our streets daily, manned by untrained, semi-trained and uncertified and unlicensed personnel.

“The training and practice of ultrasound in Nigeria is the most abused in the world possibly because of lack of coherence in regulations and also an inefficient institutional framework for enforcement of regulation among others.”

Speaking in Lagos during the conference, HEFAMA Acting Executive Secretary, Dr Mabel Adjekughele, stated that quackery was one of the biggest challenges facing ultrasound and diagnostic practice in the state.

Adjekughele, who urged practitioners to always ensure that registered and licensed professionals man their centres, stated that the agency would not relent in its efforts to ensure that the state is free from medical quackery.

Ultrasound, also termed sonography, ultrasonography and Doppler study, is a non-invasive diagnostic medical technique that uses high frequency sound waves to produce images of the internal structures of the body.

Ultrasound can be used as a screening tool to confirm medical disorders or as a therapeutic tool in treating of musculoskeletal problems, kidney stones, and gallstones. It can also be used to assess the progression of the fetus in the womb and diagnose growths or tumors of the ovary, uterus and fallopian tubes.

Ultrasound may be used to image the breasts and guide biopsy of breast masses to evaluate for breast cancer as well as to evaluate the overall function of the heart.

Adjekughele said: “We and AMUPN are working for the same goal: the safety of the patient. Facilities are only sealed up when they are being run by quacks. We do not seal up facilities managed by professionals.”

On what HEFAMA is doing to promote safe ultrasound practice in the state, she said: “We are encouraging the practice of ultrasound. The practitioners are stakeholders, and we want them to come and register with the agency so that we can inspect their facilities. We expect them to have qualified personnel, qualified in the sense that they should be trained, certified and licensed”.

On challenges facing the field, the HEFAMA boss said: “There is a lot of quackery in the field. We still have a lot of facilities, which have not been registered. We have over 3,000 registered medical facilities in Lagos. We still have those who have applied for registration. For diagnostic centres, we have over 150 centres registered with us, and we have a number we are yet