Assessment of personal occupational radiation exposures received by nuclear medicine and oncology staff in Punjab (2003-2012)

The impact of occupational radiation exposures on oncology staff working in the disciplines of Nuclear Medicine (NM), Radiotherapy (RT), and Diagnostic Radiology (DR) is of significance to ensure a health risk free environment. In this study, occupationally received radiation doses amongst Pakistani oncology staff in NM, RT and DR during the period (2003-2012) were assessed. The Film Badge Dosimetry (FBD) technique has been utilized to process over 81,000 films (13,237 workers) concerning the occupationally exposed workers data (2003-2012) at a national scale. The annual effective doses were found to range between 0.30-0.97 mSv for NM, 0.44-1.02 mSv for RT and 0.31-1.09 mSv for DR. The annual effective doses averaged over a period of 10 years were assessed to be 0.63, 0.70 and 0.68 mSv for NM, RT and DR respectively. The exposure data were categorized into three exposure levels (a parts per thousand currency sign0.99, 1-4.99 and 5-9.99 mSv) to establish the staff distribution in these categories. It was found that 89.8-96 % in NM, 82-94.5 % in RT and 76-96.8 % staff workers in DR have received doses within the range from the Minimum Detectable Limit (MDL)- 0.99 mSv. The annual effective doses, in all categories, were measured to be less than the recommended annual limit of 20 mSv.