MOPH and HMC Collaboration with IAEA for the Regional Workshop on External Dosimetry

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) “Regional Workshop on External Dosimetry with Particular Focus on Extremity and Monitoring of the Eye Lenses” has recently been concluded achieving its key objectives

June 1, 2023 - 06:20

MOPH and HMC Collaboration with IAEA for the Regional Workshop on External Dosimetry

Source: Ministry of Public Health

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

The Ministry of Public Health has reported on its website that the workshop was held at Mondrian Doha Hotel, Doha, Qatar on 07-11 May 2023.

Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) and Hamad Medical Corporation collaborated with IAEA hosted this important event to foster interactive discussions on how to establish, improve and possibly harmonize the external dosimetry monitoring capabilities within Asia and the Pacific Region, particularly for extremity and lens of the eyes in compliance with the requirements of the IAEA International Safety Standards.

Dr. Abdullatif Mohamed Al Khal, Deputy Chief Medical Officer and Director of the Department of Medical Education at HMC, graced the opening of this major workshop and wished everyone a productive and successful workshop.

Dr Mohammad Hassan Kharita, Assistant Executive Director of Occupational Health and Safety Department of Hamad Medical Corporation and the workshop director, welcomed the experts and participants and acknowledged the efforts of the IAEA and MOPH in their collaboration efforts with HMC to conduct this event.

The 5-day intensive workshop was spearheaded by international and local IAEA experts: Dr Mashari Al Naami (Kuwait), Dr Panagiontis Askounis (Greece), Dr Chadia Rizk (Lebanon), and Dr Mohammad Hassan Kharita (Qatar).

The purpose of this regional workshop was to foster interactive discussions on how to establish, improve and possibly harmonize the external dosimetry monitoring capabilities for extremity and lens of the eyes in compliance with the requirements of the international safety standards. The focus was on the appropriate protective actions need to be taken to ensure that doses to the lens of the eye do not exceed the annual dose limit. Workers potentially at risk include medical specialists operating image-guided equipment in interventional cardiology and interventional radiology, medical specialists performing some tasks in nuclear medicine, emergency response workers and industrial radiographers.

With the esteemed active contributions from 29 international delegates from around the Asia and the Pacific Region from Bahrain, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mongolia, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Syrian Arab Republic, Thailand, and Vietnam as well as nine (10) local participants from OHS- HMC and from the Ministry of Environment in Qatar, the workshop will definitely improve participating countries’ capacity for worker protection and opportunities for harmonization in this field.