The Radiological Society of South Africa has asked the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, to halt a decision that diagnostic radiographers registered after 1 January, 1994, may no longer perform ultrasounds. The Mercury reports that in terms of a directive issued by the Professional Board for Radiography and Clinical Technology last month, failure to comply with this directive would be considered professional misconduct.
The application was due to be heard by the court on an urgent basis. The report says the applicant wanted an order interdicting the board from implementing this directive pending a later application to have it overturned. The urgent application was, however, removed from the roll after an undertaking by the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) that it would not enforce the decision taken by the board at this stage.
It was stated that the board would consider the concerns of the radiographers during its next meeting. It was also agreed that representations could be made during the meeting on behalf of the affected radiographers.
According to the report, Dharmesh Daya, vice-president of the Radiological Society of South Africa, said in court papers that the application concerned diagnostic radiographers and their right to choose and practise their profession. In particular, it concerned the rights of those radiographers who engage in ultrasound imaging, to continue doing so. Many of these practitioners are employed by radiology practices and exclusively had to perform ultrasounds.
He said in the report that the board unlawfully and without following fair procedure, decided that all diagnostic radiographers who qualified after 1994 may no longer fulfil these functions. He said this restriction had the consequence that many of these professionals would be unable to perform the only function for which they were employed. “It will result in them becoming redundant and losing their jobs. The impugned decision has also thrown those radiological practices that employ diagnostic radiographers to undertake ultrasound, into disarray.” Daya added that a knock-on effect would also be felt by the public who require ultrasound imaging services, as there would suddenly not be enough professionals available to serve this health need.
The report says in 2014 the board released a document in which it stated that diagnostic radiographers may no longer perform ultrasounds unless they had obtained an additional approved qualification in this field, which was registered with the HPCSA. This was not enforced at the time and the matter of diagnostic radiographers undertaking ultrasound acts went quiet for a few years, until it was recently revisited by the board.
Daya said his organisation recently received a letter from the board stating that diagnostic radiographers registered after 1 January, 1994, were not adequately qualified to undertake ultrasounds. “The radiographers registered in the diagnostic category have engaged in ultrasound imaging under the supervision of radiologists for a number of decades.
“In that time, we were not aware of any significant quality or safety concerns regarding the performance of ultrasounds by these radiographers,” Daya said. He added that these professionals had the skills to perform ultrasounds and both their academic and on-the-job training equipped them to do this.
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