The Ministry of Health's Ultrasound Department has confirmed a Samoa Observer report that it has been forced to outsource "non-urgent ultrasound requests" due to specialist staff shortages.

A press release was issued by the Ministry on Tuesday this week – which was distributed by the Press Secretariat on Thursday night – after Samoa Observer published a story last Saturday that revealed that the M.O.H. is refusing to process non-urgent ultrasound requests and is referring the patients to private practice.

The M.O.H. said currently their Ultrasound Department is an "understaffed unit" within the Medical Imaging & Radiology Department (Ofisa o Fa'ata) at the Tupua Tamasese Meaole National Hospital (TTM) with only one senior technician and a trainee. A senior staff member is also currently away on further studies in Fiji while others trained in this field have either resigned or moved to private practice.

"To compound matters, there is a shortage of funded training opportunities to study ultrasound and radiology in regional tertiary institutions, with no local tertiary institution currently able to offer training for radiographers or sonographers (technicians who conduct ultrasound scans)," said the Ministry. "For effective service delivery, there should be at least six sonographers based on the increasing demand, along with at least three radiologists, specialist doctors who interpret x-rays, CT scans and ultrasound.

"The Ministry believes in transparency and in offering the general public accessibility options, rather than having patients waiting for a period of up to 6 weeks for non-urgent ultrasound scan appointment."

Pointing out that there are currently three private ultrasound clinics in Samoa, the MOH said it is confident that the patient backlog can be tackled by sharing the responsibility.

"With the availability of at least three private ultrasound clinics in Samoa, the Ministry is confident it can share its patient load through off-setting any potential backlog to the private sector, thus ensuring accessibility of all Samoans to these specific diagnostic services."

This temporary measure will also allow the Ministry's Medica Imaging & Radiology Department to shift its focus and limited resources to emergencies as well as urgent investigation of in-patient (hospital-admitted) cases, according to the MOH. 

"It also allows non-urgent ultrasound cases to be done and reported early instead of waiting in the queue that is now up to 6 weeks long," added the Ministry. 

The press release was signed by the Acting Director General of Health, Auliaimalae Tagaloa Dr. Robert Thomsen.