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While in Ghana to deliver our first Point of Care Ultrasound course, we also met with the Head of the Radiology Directorate at KATH, Dr Augustina Badu-Peprah, and her team.
Several Worldwide Radiology volunteers have a long history of links with the department, from the days when there were almost no radiologists in Ghana and none at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital.
Since then, Dr Badu-Peprah has led a steadily growing team of specialists and trainees and the time has now come for them to be able to sub-specialise further in areas of their interest, alongside performing their general radiology duties.
In countries like the UK, many radiologists will go on “Fellowships” either abroad or in the UK to get sub-speciality experience. For Ghanaian radiologists this is very difficult to achieve because of challenging regulations in host countries and a lack of funding opportunities.
It also exposes them to skills and learning which may not always be most relevant to their patients and takes them away from where they are still needed most: their own hospitals.
Following our discussions, we hope to play a part in bringing together radiologists from Ghana and experts from within the West African region and further afield to assist Dr Badu-Peprah and her colleagues in developing flexible sub-specialty training programmes that will offer a learning experience matched to what Ghanaian patients and radiologists most need.
For this, we have taken first steps towards the implementation of a secure image sharing platform. We will explore options for longer-term sabbatical visits from international experts, as well as options for Ghanaian radiologists to attend short-term visits overseas.
We hope to build a regional network, linking in radiologists from other partner sites, such as The Gambia. Working together remotely has never been so easy and there is a great opportunity in radiology to benefit. We hope over time this will result in long-lasting regional and wider professional links and friendships.
