10th Asian Oceanian Congress Of Radiology

27 Apr 2004

By Dr Balaji Sadasivan

Venue: Raffles The Plaza Hotel

Dr Lilian Leong

President

Asian Oceanian Society of Radiology

Prof Lenny Tan

Chairman, Organising Committee

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

I have great pleasure in being present at the opening ceremony of the 10th Asian Oceanian Congress of Radiology. I wish to extend a warm welcome to all participants and congratulate the Society on the successful organisation of the Congress this year after its postponement last year due to SARS. We have undergone turbulent and challenging times last year but I am sure that healthcare professionals in Singapore and around the region have emerged more resilient, determined and prepared to face future challenges.

ADVANCES IN RADIOLOGY

The field of Radiology is leading the expansion of knowledge and technology in many aspects of medicine. The rapid advances in Radiology have enabled Radiologists and other healthcare professionals in this field to take on new roles, in the diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions. Interventional Radiology continues to grow in scope resulting in accurate placements of needles, introduction of catheters and deployment of stents. These advances lead to less invasive treatment modalities contributing to greater patient safety sometimes obviating the need for surgical procedures. The expertise of Radiologist in offering therapeutic modalities such as embolisation of tumours also contributes significantly to available treatment options especially in inoperable tumours, which may ultimately result in an improved quality of life for the patient.

THE EVOLVING ROLE OF THE RADIOLOGIST

As the Radiological fraternity takes on greater diagnostic and therapeutic responsibility, there would need to be greater accountability and even greater liability for the procedures undertaken. Communication of the procedures, the precautions to be taken before and after procedures and the explanation of possible unavoidable adverse events including advising patients when to seek assistance are crucial pre-requisites to effective management of patient expectation thus reducing unnecessary complaints and possible litigation. The interventional Radiologists should behave like full fledged surgeons.

A further challenge to Radiologists, is how to ensure that with greater specialisation they continue to deliver co-ordinated, multidisciplinary care in partnership with the rest of the healthcare professionals, to ensure that ultimately the recipient, the patient, is managed holistically and not subject to fragmented or piece-meal care.

HEALTH SERVICE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES (HSDPS)

To ensure that doctors have at their disposal sophisticated state of the art technology to deliver optimum care to their patients to treat certain medical conditions, the Ministry has continued in its commitment to the Health Service Development Programme (HSDP). This serves as a funding mechanism to evaluate the development of new capabilities in the public healthcare system. With this source of funding, there is greater incentive to continue to study useful projects, which use cutting edge technology, and this includes the evaluation of experimental treatments to control and treat key diseases. 

My Ministry is committed to ensure that Singapore remains on the global radar, of countries, which pursue initiatives which would continue to contribute to the advancement and the enhancement of healthcare in the new millennium. The introduction of 3T MRI for the diagnosis of stroke, epilepsy and other neurological diseases as an augmentation of existing management capability in neurological disease, is just one such example. The development of cardiac and cardiovascular MRI, the application of advanced orthopaedic surgery navigation and the use of radiofrequency ablation for liver tumours, are just a few of the innovative, cutting edge technology projects funded by my Ministry under this scheme.

KEEPING HEALTHCARE COST DOWN

My Ministry has always been mindful of its important role of ensuring that the healthcare costs in Singapore are kept affordable and within the reach of its people. With the advent of technology, you have a far greater arsenal of diagnostic and therapeutic radiological technology at your disposal. This also imposes on you a far greater ethical responsibility to ensure that technology is used in an appropriate and cost-effective manner. Radiologists like all other healthcare providers have to be mindful of the need to ensure that your patients do not incur additional costs arising from inappropriate or repetitive tests performed, unless they are of diagnostic or therapeutic value. You may even have to take on an advocacy role of advising your clinical colleagues to be prudent on the use of these new Radiological technologies and diagnostic tools. In this new era, effective delivery of healthcare is heavily dependent on a coordinated multidisciplinary team approach with clinicians sharing expertise.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY-ADVANCES AND ISSUES

Advances in information technology including the use of patient archival and communication systems(PACS) and the move towards Digital Radiography & Digital archiving sees most reporting done on workstations rather than with films. Electronic transmission of information has revolutionised and expanded the scope of Radiology to transcend regional and political barriers. Images can now be transmitted and projected across the globe enabling the Radiologist to view and interpret the radiological images instantly without having to wait for the hardcopy. In keeping with the times, the Radiological fraternity must be open to paradigm shifts including outsourcing (i.e. reporting of films done or consultation done on films done outside of ones country). We are entering the era of "Radiology Sans Frontiers".

For outsourcing to be successful, apart from issues such as reporting at odd hours of the day, I am informed that there are other logistic issues related to medical insurance and registration which would require to be resolved, in advance. A further implication of reporting and transmitting information via tele-radiograph and other means of electronic communication is the added responsibility of ensuring controlled access and confidentiality of such medical information transmitted across institutions and even continents. Ethical and confidentiality issues are important tenets to ensure that the patients retain their trust in the healthcare professionals and systems which tap on the expertise of Radiologists from afar. This is not an impossible task but one that requires motivation, integrity, and a good information management system which does not allow for breaches in the access and transmission of such confidential medical information.

CONCLUSION

In closing I would like to wish all participants who have come from around the region, a successful and stimulating congress. I hope that this congress serves as an effective forum for networking and sharing of expertise and innovations in Radiology. With this I declare the 10th Asian Oceanian Congress of Radiology, open.

Thank you.