Medical imaging professionals body provides crucial services to the local healthcare sector – GAMIP

Nov 08, 2020 News

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World Radiography Day 2020

 

Kaieteur News – Today, November 8th 2020 marks the 125th anniversary of the discovery of x-rays by German Physicist Wilhelm Röntgen in 1895.

In 125 years, medical imaging has gone from the battlefields of Europe to some of the leading research hospitals across the world.

 

Regarded as the eyes of medicine, radiographers and other types of medical imaging professionals have for decades provided doctors and nurses with the information they needed for accurate diagnosis and treatment of their patients.

In Guyana, despite facing several setbacks, the medical imaging community continues to play a crucial role in the health care sector.

As such local medical imaging practitioners have been forging efforts to revitalize Guyana Association of Medical Imaging Practitioners (GAMIP)—an association which has been defunct since the early 2000.

Based on an elections held in October 2020, the new GAMIP executive board was formed. The members include President- Ms Jankie Devi (Medical Imaging Technologist, Radiology Manager at Georgetown Medical Clinic Inc; Vice President- Ms Ramona Chanderballi (Cardiac Sonographer; Cardiology Department at Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, WRETF Trustee and Owner of RadToTheBone592); Treasurer- Mr Kushnanan Harnarine (Medical Imaging Technologist- CT); Secretary- Ms Radiyah Khan (Medical Imaging Technologist); ISRRT Council Member for Guyana- Mr Anzar Nasrudeen (Medical Imaging Technologist at St Joseph’s Mercy Hospital); Project Manager- Ms Felicia Nandan (Chief Radiographer at Cancer Institute, Guyana) and X-ray Technician Representative- Ms Shaneeza Ali (X-ray Technician at St Joseph’s Mercy Hospital.

Kaieteur News recently reached out to Vice President of the Association, Ramona Chanderballi who spoke of the efforts of medical imaging professionals in modern medicine.

She reiterated that “the medical imaging community is the eyes of medicine.”
“We help doctors and nurses better understand their patients so that they can care for them properly. Medical imaging professionals study for four years but we have to continue training because technology in medical imaging is evolving constantly, almost daily,” Chanderballi, an advocate for the profession, stated.

As such, the GAMIP Vice President noted that spreading awareness is just a part of what the association is seeking to do.

“We also want to revise and expand the constitutions of the association… We are also seeking to build a network and to host a radiology conference here in Guyana to continue to help as well as secure funding for research and training for the advancement of medical imaging professionals,” she added.

Though these efforts are noble, Chanderballi said that it will require much commitment.

She explained that this is not the first the association tried to accomplish in the early 2000s, the Guyana Association of Medical Imaging Practitioners was founded by a group of radiographers but it became defunct shortly after a few years partly due to Guyana’s notorious brain drain.

She noted, however, that while functioning, the members of GAMIP attended the International Society of Radiographers and Radiologic Technologists/ ISRRT World Congress in Colorado, USA efforts slowly began to resuscitate GAMIP.

Chanderballi explained that one of the largest teams of medical imaging practitioners attended the ISRRT World Congress in Trinidad in 2018 hosted by the Society of Radiographers of Trinidad and Tobago.

“The team consisted of six presenters including one poster presentation from the 2017-2018 research papers from graduating classes from the University of Guyana. Several of the research papers have been published or are in the process of publication.

In 2020, the medical imaging community once again made a concerted effort to strongly resuscitate and sustain the Guyana Association of Medical Imaging Practitioners/ GAMIP with a younger and diverse executive committee inclusive of different modalities and private-public sector practitioners,” she said.

In the meantime, newly elected President of the recently resuscitated Guyana Association of Medical Imaging Practitioners (GAMIP) Jankie Devi said she is pleased to efforts of the association, so far.

“We take great pride and care in our imaging profession and strive to make a difference in the healthcare sector. On behalf of myself and the GAMIP executive board, we look forward to working with you and developing the Guyana medical imaging community to meet its mandate.
Happy World Radiography Day Guyana!” she said.

 

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