This photo provided by Yonhap News TV,shows a medical personnel using X-ray imaging equipment.
SEOUL, Dec. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean medical workers’ occupational radiation exposure is at a safe level, falling far short of upper limits but still higher than exposure in other industrialized countries, data showed Monday.
The per-capita occupational radiation exposure of the nation’s 101,964 radiologists, radiology technicians and nurse assistants at 42,527 medical institutions averaged 0.38 millisievert (mSv) last year, down 5 percent from a year ago and equivalent to less than one percent of the annual upper limit of 50 mSw, according to data from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.
These employees work primarily with diagnosis X-ray equipment, and their occupational radiation exposure must be measured at least once every three months.
The average occupational radiation exposure of the employees of domestic medical institutions has been on a downward trend, falling to 0.40 mSw in 2020 from 0.45 mSw in 2018 and 2019 and 0.48 mSv in 2017.
This figure, however, is still higher than the 0.27 mSv reported in France (2021), 0.28 mSv in Japan (2021), 0.34 mSv in Germany (2020), and 0.08 mSv in Canada (2018).
By job type, the average annual occupational radiation exposure of the radiology technicians was the highest at 0.82mSv, followed by doctors at 0.28mSV and nurse assistants at 0.23 mSv.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
