Although some kind of diagnostic and counselling services were available in the early 80s, the quality and coverage of ante-natal care were found to be inadequate due to a lack of adequate ultrasound equipment and trained doctors who could operate them. This was a huge lacuna in the antenatal health service delivery system which needed to be plugged. Mediscan took the bold step forward to bridge the gap, and in 1983 began training doctors in obstetric ultrasound to improve their prenatal diagnostic skills. The success of this program led to regular Clinical Meetings of one hour duration being conducted every Wednesday of the week. This training program, the brainchild of our Director, Dr.Indrani Suresh, continues even today.
Our highly popular clinical meetings are open to all Sonologists, Radiologists, Obstetricians, Gynaecologists and Foetal Medicine specialists. These are held on the first three Wednesdays of the month and The Indian Federation of Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology Meeting (IFUMB) is held on the last Wednesday of the month. From 2012, the advancement of technology and internet connectivity transformed and widened the scope of our Clinical Meetings which shifted from slide projections, OHPs and dial up connections to present day high speed virtual meetings. Our online clinical meetings enabled around 50 to 200 participants to log in simultaneously from India and abroad, thereby increasing the reach of our clinical meeting lectures. The Mediscan clinical team is an active participant in these meetings putting forth cases which need experts’ inputs for their final diagnosis and decisions.
In the Clinical meetings, challenging and difficult cases of critical fetal conditions which would cause serious birth defects or life risk for the baby were taken up for discussion, Departments such as Clinical Genetics, Perinatal Pathology too brainstorm and pitch in with their insights.
