The radiation protection code of practice in teletherapy facilities

This study aimed to provide a document (code) for the standard practice in teletherapy facilities to be a reference and guide for establishing new teletherapy facilities or mending an existing one, another aim was to evaluated the teletherapy facilities with regard to their compliance to the recommendations and guides mentioned in this document. This document includes: safety specifications for teletherapy equipment, facility planning and shielding design, radiation protection and work practice, quality assurance and personnel requirements and responsibilities. In order to assess the degree of compliance of the two centers in the country with what was stated in the developed document IAEA inspection checklist was utilized and made some radiation measurement were made around the treatment rooms. The results of such inspection mission revealed that the current status of radiation protection in both of inspected centers is almost similar and both are not satisfactory as many of the essential items of radiation protection as stipulated in this document were not followed, which lead to unnecessary, radiation exposure to patients and staff. Finally, some recommendations that may help to improve the status of radiation protection in radiotherapy departments in Sudan are given. (Author)