Don makes case for proper use of radiation for wellbeing of patients

From Bamigbola Gbolagunte, Akure

A university don, Professor Christopher Olowookere has advocated for cautious use of radiation in health and well-being of patients.

Olowookere who is a Professor of Health Physics and Biophysics at the University of Medical Sciences (UNIMED), Ondo while delivering the 8th inaugural lecture of the university stressed the need for proper care of patients.

The don who spoke on the lecture entitled “The Beauty of the ‘Invisible Princess’ and Perils of Her Heavy Make-up, said the ‘invisible princess’ is radiation energy.

According to him “Radiation is a great and useful tool that has been used to save the lives of millions of people through non-invasive examination organs of the human body to detect diseases and abnormalities.”

He however warned that a tool can turn to a weapon if it gets into the wrong hands or if applied wrongly.

He said “as beautiful as the Princess (radiation), the heavy make-up (high radiation doses) can mar its beauty. Excessive radiation doses or wrong application of it can lead to detrimental effects”.

He went further to state that too much doses of radiation also promote somatic and genetic effects which can affect generations yet unborn.In view of the double-edged nature of radiation, Olowookere advised caution and said “the tool must be put in the hands of competent (trained) personnel.”

Speaking further on the need for caution, he said “currently, the preoccupation of the physicians and radiographers in our health care facilities appears to be the quality of the image produced and less focus on the potential effect of radiation on the health and well-being of patients.

He recommended training and retraining of the handlers of radiation on the principles of radiation protection of all relevant health workers within the health sector and beyond as this will prevent the wrong use of radiation.