ABSTRACT
Introduction During the last century, major advances in medical technology have led to substantial improvements in health care. is has come at a cost; the health care technology has become complex and expensive which, in turn, has led to a very wide disparity in health care delivery between those who have the nancial resources to benet from the advanced medical technology and those that do not. e ultimate outcome of this situation is that the majority of the world population does not have access to advanced medical technology and advanced health care. For instance, according to WHO reports, “Around 95% of medical technology in developing countries is imported, much of which does not meet the needs of national health care systems. Over 50% of equipment is not being used, either because of a lack of maintenance or spare parts, because it is too sophisticated or in disrepair, or simply because the health personnel do not know how to use it.” [1]. is situation is particularly acute in the eld of medical imaging, which is required for correct diagnostic in about 20% to 30% of cases worldwide and which is not available to over 60% of the world population [2]. e challenges in diagnostic imaging in developing countries include: a severe lack of safe and appropriate diagnostic imaging services because of the cost and complexity of the devices as well as a severe lack of technical skills and trained radiographers/technologists leading to a large number of images being misread or of poor quality and therefore of no diagnostic use [3].
