Introduction: Standalone diagnostics centres are be established in compliance with the radiation protection and safety measures.
Aim: The study aims to evaluate the radiation safety level in standalone X-ray diagnostic radiological centres.
Methods: Five Standalone radiological diagnostic centres have been studied in terms of the mAs, kVp and the annual effective dose obtained during radiological procedures. The annual effective dose is estimated from the instantaneous doses’ measurement using a radiation survey meter (survey meter was held at about 1.2 meters high), Geiger counter version BR- 9C with threshold setting based on the World Health Organisation (WHO). The measurement ranges between 0 µSv/h and 99.99 µSv/h, with real-time measurement and real-time error ≤ 10%. The mAs and kVp measurements were obtained directly from the X-ray machines used.
Results: The highest kVp obtained is 80kV, and the lowest is 45kV; while the highest mAs is 129.7 mAs, and the lowest is 2.83 mAs. The highest annual effective dose from these radiological diagnostic centres is 21.23 mSv/y, and the lowest is 2.31 mSv/y.
Discussion: The annual effective dose obtained from this study is within the recommended dose (whole body) by ICRP for radiation workers. However, for the patients, it is high for individuals, but the standalone radiological diagnostic centres are safe.
Conclusion: The variation in X-ray tube currents and the kVp values are factors that contributed to radiation doses in these studied centres, and the annual effective doses due to the scatter radiation shows significant effect on the annual cumulated doses on both the patients and radiation workers in most of the centres. The lowest value of annual effective dose from all the centres is 2.31 mSv/y, high for an individual part of the body for non-radiological workers. Unprotected patients or workers during the diagnostic procedures are at high risk of the highest radiation doses obtainable from the X-ray machine at any given time.