Radiographers remain in critically short supply in Ghana and across Africa, raising concerns about the timely detection and treatment of life-threatening diseases.
Ghana currently has only 800 radiographers serving a population of over 30 million, while Nigeria, with a population of over 200 million, has just 200 clinical radiographers.
This shortage means that conditions affecting the innermost parts of the human body are often difficult to detect and treat promptly.
According to the President of the Ghana Society of Radiographers, Dennis Amartey Ahia, Ghana has not recruited additional radiographers since 2019 due to external economic policy restrictions.
Experts also point to the high cost of training as a major factor. Head of the Imaging Department at the University of Cape Coast, Professor Eric Kwasi Ofori, explained:
“To train a postgraduate student in radiography you need about 15 to 20,000 pounds for a year, and if it’s PhD you have to pay for four years — it’s a challenge — so we have developed a curriculum locally and need government support.”
Radiologists who interpret the scans are even fewer. Ghana has only 93, which means each serves roughly 400,000 people. Many patients are forced to travel long distances for their services, often resulting in treatment delays and serious complications.
However, experts believe expanding the roles of radiographers to include image interpretation may bring their much-needed services closer to patients.
At the International Society of Radiographers and Radiological Technologists Conference and the Ghana Society of Radiographers’ Triennial Conference for English-speaking countries, GSR President Dennis Amartey Ahia told Citi News “we as radiographers are opening our scope to be able to interpret the X-ray so that the patient won’t need to travel to find the 93 radiographers in the country”.
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