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 (≤0.99, 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.
Keywords: Diagnostic radiology; Film badge dosimetry; Nuclear medicine; Oncology staff; Radiotherapy.