Although many practitioners call themselves fetal specialists because they limit their practice to ultrasound examinations during pregnancy, this term is very misleading as “fetal specialist” is not a recognised qualification for HPCSA registration and the level of expertise can be highly variable.

Before you decide where to go for your ultrasound examination, please discuss it with your obstetrician / gynaecologist to make sure you get the level of care that you and your baby require.

If there are specific risk factors in a pregnancy, or ultrasound findings or other screening tests indicating a possible problem with the baby, the ultrasound evaluation should ideally be done by a MFM or a SASUOG endorsed sonologist. These risk factors include medical problems (such as diabetes), medication, drug or alcohol usage, or family members with inborn problems.

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