National medical occupational radiation dose monitoring in Saudi Arabia

This is a national study about the occupational Radiation doses for medical workers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia which covers the period since the establishment of the Nuclear and Radiological Regulatory Commission (NRRC). The study aims to analyse the occupational radiation dose for medical workers in different medical practices (diagnostic radiology, nuclear medicine, and radiotherapy). Occupational dose records covering the period from 2018 to 2022 were collected and monitored for a total of 4000 medical workers. Workers engaged in diagnostic radiology make the dominant contribution to the collective effective dose of 85% radiation medical workers. The annual average effective doses for the 5-year period were 1.53, 0.98, 0.96, and 0.74 mSv for interventional radiology, diagnostic radiology, nuclear medicine, and radiotherapy, respectively. Among the four practices, interventional radiology represented the highest annual average effective dose. On the other hand, the ratio of the annual average effective dose was (1.67 to 1.45) which represents a 13% reduction with 56% increase in the number of workers from 2018 to 2022. The results of the annual dose were below the national dose limit of 20 mSv. The occupational doses were mostly within the dose limit, and further efforts for the reduction of radiation dose to the groups with high occupational dose are needed.