What is your name and what is your
official designation within the Ministry for Health?
Kieran Chircop and I am a Consultant
General and Interventional Radiologist.
Where do you work and what do your
duties entail?
Mater Dei Hospital – Medical Imaging
Department. I interpret and issue reports for body examinations including MRI’s, CT Scans, Ultrasounds and X-rays. Being an interventional radiologist, I
also perform a large variety of percutaneous operations using CT, X-ray and Ultrasound guidance.
How long have you been working with
the Public Service?
Approximately 16 years.
Are there any specific qualifications
required for your post?
A newly qualified doctor can become a
radiologist after working for two years as a general junior hospital doctor
(Foundation years). This is followed by 5 years of radiology training performed
locally. This will give you the specialization in radiology. Inorder to
subspecialize in Interventional Radiology I trained for two years in tertiary
hospitals in London and Dublin.
What attracted you to take up your
profession and to the health service?
Radiology is a very modern
specialization that is expanding very rapidly. Over the last couple of decades,
giant technological leaps allowed us to be able diagnose disease very precisely
with almost no discomfort to the patient. The technological advances have also
significantly improved our equipment thus allowing to perform an
ever-increasing number of procedures in a safer and less invasive way. All this
to the ultimate benefit of our patients.
What motivates you most?
The main source of motivation and
satisfaction comes from the satisfaction of helping my patients go through the
troubles that life brings along.
What about the teamwork
between different professions/roles involved in relation to patient care?
At times, these interactions can be
challenging, to say the least, but the best interest of the patient should
always take top priority.
Can you give us one
challenge and one success story?
I consider watching my registrars
independently perform highly skilled interventions as my greatest pride; not withstanding
achieving said pride after having gone through the various challenges whilst
training them.
What advice would you give
to young students considering taking up this profession?
My advice is very simple. Whichever
path in life you choose to take, never give up trying to improve yourselves. In
life, sometimes we learn and sometimes we succeed.
What are the benefits of working with
the public service?
As the name implies, we are a serve
to the public; thus, no matter how bad a day might be, you can always feel
positive about our actions as having been of help to a person in need.