95 hospitals ‘have no radiology apparatus’

Arusha. A total of 95 hospitals across the country have been ordered to install modern radiology equipment on their premises.

They have also been required to send for training their staff to get the skills needed to manage and operate the certified devices.

The order was made by the director general of the Tanzania Atomic Energy Commission (Taec), Prof. Lazaro Busagara, when gracing the end of a training course for 104 laboratory technicians.

The training on radiology safety was organized by the Arusha-based nuclear energy regulatory body, and involved 104 technicians from hospitals in different regions.

According to Prof. Busagara, a total of 664 hospitals were inspected for their radiology equipment between July last year and June this year.

Out of that number, 105 hospitals were ordered to instal the required radiology equipment. Later on, ten of the hospitals were given a clean bill of health.

Inspection of the other hospitals is ongoing, and three of them were recently banned from providing services for having defective equipment.

The Taec boss reminded the technicians that state-of-art radiology services such as X-rays were mandatory under the law - and that there is no bargaining on that.

The Taec director of Technology and Technical Services, Firmin Banzi, said the commission offers refresher courses annually for technicians providing radiology services. He called on the managements of hospitals to ensure that their radiology equipment is always in good working order so as not to expose patients to nuclear energy hazards.