Filenews 12 July 2022 - by Rafaela Dimitriadi
The Cyprus Radiological Society asks for the acceleration of the time for the creation of a legislative plan, which will ensure both the safe procedure during MRI and CT scanners, as well as the reliability in the results of the diagnosis from the examination. This was preceded by very serious complaints before the House Health Committee of the House, which concern the non-existence of legislation governing radiodiagnostic centres. Alarm bell from those responsible and for the risk of incorrect results of MRI and CT scans.
The Radiological Society insists that, first of all, existing legislation related to the issue should be taken into account, which are not implemented and are a basic condition for the creation of a comprehensive legislative plan.
On this issue, the Cyprus Radiological Society, at its own request, met with the Minister of Health, Michalis Hatzipantelas and his advisors, with the aim of discussing the immediate drafting of a comprehensive bill that will govern radiological diagnostic centres.
The procedures for drafting a bill, while expected to be much shorter, as in some cases the health of citizens is at stake, it is estimated that it will take some time to complete. It will reportedly take a year from the day the green light is given to the creation of the bill, which has not yet happened.
It should be recalled that during the session in the Parliament in March, many of the errors in the field of imaging were checked, with the ultimate result of abuse and the absence of targeted and quality service to the citizen. According to what has been said in the Committee on Health, radiodiagnostic centres are sprouting like mushrooms, as there is no control over the issue of a permit for their operation, with the result that there is an overabundance of diagnostic centres, which, in some cases, do not comply with the standards. As it was reported, some radiodiagnostics operate with used machines of outdated technology, without being controlled by the appropriate maintainers.
Speaking to philenews, the President of the Cyprus Radiological Society, Dr. Chrysa Tzikouri Siakalli, sounded the alarm about insufficient results of MRI and CT scans. "It is not possible," he pointed out, "that there are no criteria of quality and adequacy of each equipment for conducting specific examinations." "It is not possible that there are no recorded machines, not even those that have radiation, such as CT scanners, radiographic systems for simple X-rays and mammograms, which are governed by the law of radiation protection," he noted.
Concluding, he pointed out that we should not sow panic because in no case is the complaint that one in 200 patients undergoing a full-length CT scanner dies. "But there should be a targeted demand for radiation-based tests," he concluded.
