Express_Healthcare__February_2018

RADIOLOGY
I N T E R V I E W
There is an exponential growth of scientific knowledge
in radiology which needs to be explored'
Dr Mohanan K, Professor and HOD of Radio diagnosis, Govt Medical College, Thrissur, Kerala,
has been recently elected as the 74 th President of IRIA. He is the first president from Kerala
and has a strong agenda for change in the Indian radiology sector. Raelene Kambli catches
up with Dr Mohanan K to understand his vision for Indian radiology
We decided to launch the
RAKSHA programme, a
nationwide initiative to save the
girl child
Congratulations for
becoming the new
President of IRIA. I would
like to know your vision for
the upliftment of the
radiology sector in India.
Thank you! India, being the
second largest country has an
immense scope for the
radiology sector to flourish.
India has a large number of
radiologist as compared to
many countries in the world.
50 per cent of our radiologists
are young and so the scope
for further advancements
and development increases
manifold. Also, considering
that 50 per cent of our
country’s population is below
40 years, I feel the sector is
certainly poised for growth.
We are at par with any
country in the world with
regards to technology,
competence and efficiency. If
you take any country from
the world map, you will see
that Indian radiologists are
excelling in their work. Such
excellence can be applied
here as well.
As an association, we will
work for the promotion and
progress of the radiologists in
India. Moreover, there is an
exponential growth of
scientific knowledge which
still needs to be explored in
this field. However,
institutions and colleges
cannot cope up with the
growing scientific knowledge.
Therefore, the association
has plans introduce many
education programmes,
workshop and conferences to
spread more knowledge.
I am a teacher, so I will
always give more preference
to learning and research.
Tell us about the new
RAKSHA campaign that
you have launched.
I come from Kerala where the
number of females are high and
we do believe in empowering
our girls. And my personal
agenda is to make India just like
Kerala. Therefore, we decided
to launch the RAKSHA
programme, a nationwide
initiative to save the girl child.
The campaign was inaugurated
by Amitabh Bachchan who has
extended his support to the
cause. He has promised that he
would advocate for this
campaign and will help us in
every way to make this
programme successful. The
two main agenda under this
programme is to pledge for not
doing foetal selection and track
down culprits who are doing
this. We as an association have
also found that a lot of foetal
selection is done by nonqualified
people for earning
money and we will be closing
working with police forces to
track them down. I have taken a
person responsibility on this
front.
What are the efforts taken
by you so far to improve
radiation safety?
We have met the chairperson
of Atomic Energy Regulatory
Board (AERB) and launched
the Radiation Safety
Awareness programme. We
have requested him to not
issue license to anyone who do
not follow the radiation safety
mechanism. Today, anyone
can purchase a radiology
equipment in India. There is
no norm that one needs to be
a qualified radiologist to start
this service. Even an
Ayurvedic doctor can
purchase radiology
equipment, such is the state
today. We have therefore
requested the chairman to not
allow this at least for high-end
radiology equipment such as
CT, MRI, PET_CT etc.
So what about the Clinical
Establishments Act?
We the clinical establishment
act is only passed by the
Centre and not the states.
However, it does have such
provision that only a qualified
radiologist needs to purchase
and start a radiology centre.
What will you do to
promote research in India?
Well, I completely believe
that India needs research
focussed on Indians and not
the people living abroad. We
are going to raise funds for
research and we will have
multi-centric studies.
The number of radiologist
in India is less in
comparison to the demand
of our population. What
will the association do to
increase the number of
radiologists?
We are in talks with the
government to sanction more
number of PG seats for
radiology and we hope that
soon we will hear some good
news on that front too.
raelene.kambli@expressindia.com
36
EXPRESS HEALTHCARE
February 2018