An IAEA technical cooperation project has helped the United Arab Emirates enhance radiation protection standards in the field of radiology and nuclear medicine, including a comprehensive, upgraded patient radiation protection procedure. Over 225 medical professionals, 50% of whom were women, participated in workshops and other training exercises to address areas of image quality optimization, patient radiation dose and guidelines for patient referrals for radiological examinations.
“My hospital team members across the UAE and I were involved in hosting and organizing the projects activities across the UAE governmental hospitals,” said Dr. Jamila Salem Alsuwaidi, Consultant Medical Physicist for the UAE Department of Medical Education. “We created working groups within the hospitals to promote radiation safety culture, participated in developing the radiation protection practices and initiated scientific research and publications related to radiation safety and patient radiation dosimetry as the implementation and the outcome of these projects.”
The project was implemented in cooperation with the UAE Ministry of Health, the Abu Dhabi Health Authority and the Dubai Health Authority.
Other outcomes from this technical cooperation project include, but are not limited to:
- establishment of radiotherapy auditing;
- introduction of radioiodine services with high-level radiation safety procedures;
- reduction of radiation doses from computed tomography practices by more than 50%;
- reduction of radiation doses from dental imaging by over 70%;
- establishment of a professional development programme on patient radiation protection in radiology and nuclear medicine;
- introduction of referral guidelines for radiological examinations to the UAE clinical community;
The IAEA and UAE have a longstanding relationship in technical cooperation. As recently as 1 April 2018, the UAE Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR) inaugurated the country’s first dosimetry laboratory at the Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research in Abu Dhabi. The IAEA assisted the UAE in procuring the laboratory’s irradiators and ancillary equipment, as well as facilitated training and fellowships to the laboratory’s staff to ensure its admittance to the IAEA/World Health Organization SSDL Network in February 2018.
These activities are part of a larger project, working towards capacity building in the UAE through education and training for medical physics. Launched in January 2018, the project seeks to put every medical facility in the UAE under a radiation protection programme, including programmes to increase local expertise and the number of professionals, and to ensure their continuous qualification and professional development.
Between 2014 and 2017, the IAEA assisted the UAE with 22 projects. It benefited the medical staff of seven hospitals in the field of radiation safety, and the medical staff of four more received training with nuclear medicine practices.