Radiology for the People: A Basic Radiological System for Health Care in Developing Nations

November 2019 1/3 10.7191/jgr.2019.1083 In the first decade of the 21st century, highly developed technology has become commonplace and is accepted without reservation as progressive and essential to modern life in the developed world. This has become especially apparent in the field of medicine and diagnostic imaging with modalities such as ultrasound (US), computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and nuclear molecular imaging becoming rather routine in the diagnostic armamentarium. While considered routine and accessible in developed nations, unfortunately for the greater part of the world’s population, these incredible technological break-throughs have virtually no meaning. For approximately 3.6 billion people, or about 60% of the world’s population, there is little or not access to the simplest examination such as a chest or extremity radiograph (2). For example, if x-ray capability is available in Guatemala City, patients may have to travel for several days by foot to reach the city where the machine is located. Once they reach the site, lines and wait times may be long, causing significant delay in diagnosis and treatment. This delay in diagnosis and treatment has effects at the individual level with increase in morbidity and mortality, but also at the public health level, as seen with pulmonary tuberculosis, a disease that causes approximately 1.6 million deaths a year throughout the world and about 400,000 in India alone (7). Additionally, tuberculosis has become a very important complication for AIDS patients around the world.