Medical surveillance for radiation workers in the hospital

Introduction
Designated radiation workers who worked in public hospitals attended medical examination annually. The primary aim of the medical exam was to identify health problems assosicated with radiation exposure. It is also mandatory for medical certification for fitness to work as radiation workers in Hong Kong.

Methods
A review of the medical examination records for radiation workers in one of the clusters hospital in Hong Kong in 2001 is reviewed to study their occupational history, radiation exposure(occupational and non-occupational) and health conditions.

Results
A total of 38 designated radiation workers attended the medical examination. 3 of them are new radiation workers and they are excluded because there is no occupational exposure to radiation yet. The majority was male workers ( male: female = 27(77%) : 8 ( 23%). Their occupations were distributed as follows: 16 ( 45.7%) were radiographers. 6 ( 17.1%) were medical technologists and technicians. 5(14.3%) were physicist. . 4(11.4%) were laboratory attendants.2 (5.7%) were scientific officer and 1 ( 2.9%) was general service assistant. The age of workers range from 28 to 59 yrs, with mean age 43.9- yr- old.The range of radiation exposure during the past 12 months range from 0 to 0.79 mSV with mean = 0.25 mSV. The non-occupational radiation exposure ranged from 0 to 62.12 mSV with mean = 3.75 msV. No health conditions were found to be caused by the radiation. All of them were fit to work as radiation workers.

Discussion
The sensitivity of the medical exam in detecting illnesses caused by radiation is low. The low occupational exposure levels reflects the good control of the radiation protection in the workplace. On the other hand, it is interesting to learn that the non-occupational radiation exposure, likely due to their easy access to medical care, is high when compared to their occupational exposure.