Nigeria Needs 100,000 Radiographers to Address Medical Challenges

By Paul Obi

The Radiographers Registration Board of Nigeria (RRBN) has said that Nigeria needs about 100,000 radiographers in order to address health needs and other medical challenges of over 170 million Nigerians.

The board said research across the country has shown that the current number was insignificant and inadequate to address the existing gaps.

RRBN Chief Registrar, Michael Sunday Okpaleke, stated this at the opening ceremony of the Post-Graduate Diploma in ultra sound course 2016/2017 session in Abuja.

"Based on our statistics, we need one radiographer to about a thousand population. We have a population of about 170 million Nigerians and that means we need over 100,000 radiographers in the country if the needs of Nigerians are to be met.

"The profession is attractive and there is no radiographer without a job. As they are graduating from school, they are getting employed. In fact they are appointed on Grade Level 10. So it is attractive, but it is just because radiographers work with radiation which we all know that if not properly used can be harmful. The psyche of working in a radiation environment is what scares people, even though health hazard allowances are paid.‎

"There is a need to improve on the curriculum of radiographers in order to meet up with global trends. To this effect, we have set up fellowship programmes and training and we have also mandated a 5-man panel‎ of experts to look at our curriculum and the reviewed it.

"So the white paper is available and has been sent to universities and other traditional institutions to ensure that the training of radiographers meets global standards and best practices. Radiography is technology dependent and it changes from time to time. It is dynamic.‎"

Okpeleke maintained that the role of radiographers in any health facility cannot be underestimated as they are very instrumental in the diagnosing diseases for treatment and cure.

"The contribution of radiographers is key and very important as there is no standard health facility that does not have a radiography or x-ray department‎ and when we talk about radiography, we are talking about diseases and their diagnosis with an aim of treating them."

"We do not have enough radiographers in the country and that is why we are doing this training. In fact, we have only five to six universities studying the course in Nigeria. We are also approaching other universities to see if they can appreciate the training and follow suit," Okpaleke stated.

He explained that, in order to scale up the performance of professionals in the field and make it more attractive to Nigerians, especially undergraduates, a 5-man committee has been set up to review the radiography curriculum and offer solutions.

The Registrar said this would enable Nigerian universities to adopt the course as only six universities offer it at undergraduate level at present.