,Career building in Radiology & Imaging

Medical Technology is an emerging field for career building across the world. In Europe and USA, it is considered as one of the most competitive field of career building, and getting oneself admitted in to a medical technology institute is associated with stiff competition.
According the office bearers of Bangladesh Association of Radiological and Imaging Technologists (BART), presently there are only 2500 radiological technologists in this sector which is very inadequate for the country.  The Upazila hospitals have X-ray machines but not quite adequate technologists. There are about 250 CT machines and 80 MRI machines in this country the number is increasing every day. The government target is to equip all Upazila Health Complex with CT/MRI machines in near future.  There are many such medical devices being installed every day, which require skilled medical technologists to operate.  But do we have enough technologists?
An institute for Radiology and Imaging was launched on December 2nd at Dhaka,  initiated by the Government of Japan, where doctors and medical technologists will receive skill improvement training from Japanese and Bangladeshi instructors characterized by introducing its cutting edge medical device and technology.
Dr. Sheikh Aleemuzzaman, a Japan expatriate doctor, presently assigned in Bangladesh as the advisor of Medical Excellence Japan, a project of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Japan (METI) expressed his view as follows. “I have been working in Bangladesh for the past two years to introduce the advanced Japanese Health Care System, along with its cutting edge medical technology and device. The basic problem here is lack of team therapy concept of modern day health care, characterized by lack of balance in formation of the health care team. For example in advanced countries, for one doctor there are 3 nurses and 5 paramedics including medical technologists. However, in Bangladesh medical colleges are sprouting across the country, while there is extreme shortage of nursing and medical technologist institutes. The outcome is disappointing, since in Bangladesh for one doctor we have only 0.5 nurses and 0.1 paramedics. With imbalance in ratio, team therapy cannot be established. Consequently, thousands of patients in this country has lack of confidence in the local system and are going to Thailand, Singapore and other countries for treatment.  The situation needs to be changed with initiatives to be taken to increase the numbers of nurses and medical technologists and establish the balance of team therapy.”