Three doctors who became friends while specialising as radiologists are now majority owners of an advanced medical radiation workers’ monitoring service. RAD Imaging Africa have partnered with the Netcare Group to establish an independent dosimetry service to fulfil the crucial need for monitoring radiation doses of professionals that may be exposed to radiation in their line of work.
RAD Imaging Africa is jointly owned by radiologists, Dr Nonceba Koranteng, Dr Palesa Mutshutshu, and Dr Jacinta Adrigwe. Their success story is setting a path for more equitable patterns of ownership in South Africa and representation of black women in the health sector.
Speaking on the inspiration behind RAD Imaging Africa, Adrigwe says: “As a radiologist, I myself am exposed to ionising radiation daily in my workplace. As we use radiation through medical technology to deepen our understanding of the inner parts of the human being, healthcare workers are inevitably exposed to a cumulative dose of radiation while attending to patients.”
Connected through a shared dream
Having initially met as undergraduates at the University of Witwatersrand (Wits), the three women behind RAD Imaging Africa met up again when they registered as Registrars through the Wits radiology department.
“We dreamed of starting our own radiology practice, but soon realised it would require huge start-up capital and that there is a lot of competition in this space already,” says Mutshutshu.
Radiology is a branch of medicine that uses imaging technology to diagnose and treat disease, explains Adrigwe.
“Radiation forms a critical, and increasingly important, part of modern medicine and medical technologies with therapeutic applications in the treatment of certain kinds of cancers and is also essential to diagnostic radiology technologies including x-ray and computed tomography (CT),” says Adrigwe.
Dr Jacinta Adrigwe
Family ties in medicine
Kornateng, Mutshutshu and Adrigwe grew up in households where other family members were medical professionals.
In fact Koranteng says that it was her father who inspired her to pursue her career in medicine. “He was a physiotherapist and most of his friends were also in the medical field, so I had exposure to this world from a young age,” she says. “From early childhood, I wanted to take care of people and had an interest in health. I also considered being a social worker.”
“From the third year of medical school, you get exposure to the different disciplines, but there was not a dedicated block for radiology. I however had a family member who was a radiologist, and this really interested me because it involves technology and innovation.”
Mutshutshu says that she originally had her sights set on a career in physiotherapy as a young girl growing up in the village of Moruleng outside Rustenburg
“I gained more insight into healthcare in this environment, and I met a group of clever young nurses who encouraged me to step out and pursue medicine. I enrolled on the Wits’ graduate entry medical programme, and once I found myself in medicine. I wanted career growth and to keep learning, so I started specialising in radiology.”
Dr Palesa Mutshutshu
While Adrigwe says that the more she got exposure to the field in her studies the more she got absorbed into her purpose. “I wanted to save lives,” she says.
“I find the whole of medicine fascinating. The wealth of knowledge is like an ocean that keeps growing, and I happen to find myself to be curious about all of it. So when the time came to choose a speciality, I wanted one that would enable me to still peer into the breadth of the subfields of medicine, and radiology is a discipline that is at the intersection of all others.
Finding a niche
Radiation workers may include radiation oncologists, surgeons, interventional specialists, nurses, medical physicists, radiologists, radiographers, and other medical practitioners working in hospitals as well as workers providing services in industrial applications where radiation monitoring is required.
“As medical radiation workers ourselves, we understand the importance of monitoring occupational exposure accurately and reliably. There is a great responsibility on employers in the industry to ensure regulatory compliance in keeping exposure within the set limits,” Adrigwe adds.
In Africa the potential radiology holds for prevention and screening, especially in communities where people do not have much access is important says Koranteng.
“Women are still dying of breast cancer – but many more lives could be saved through increased access to screening,” she says.
“There are not many female radiologists, and even fewer black female radiologists. We felt the need to move into business. And so it began, we attended many meetings, knocked on a lot of doors and started networking trying to find our niche.”
High doses of radiation can have detrimental effects on the body, such as increased risk of cancers and some birth defects says Adrigwe. “It is imperative to monitor the amount of radiation each radiation worker is exposed to so that an over exposure can be prevented.”
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