Indoor Background Ionizing Radiation Levels in Three Selected Departments of Federal Teaching Hospital, Gombe, Gombe State

Abstract

This study has assessed the level of indoor background ionizing radiation in the pharmacy, radiotherapy/oncology, and radiology departments of Federal Teaching Hospital, Gombe. To achieve the required objectives, the RADOS 200 survey meter was used to captured the radiation level. The meter was held 1 meter above ground level and the readings were taken at various locations (as determined by a hand GPS) within each department. The cumulative mean background radiation exposures in the pharmacy, radiotherapy/oncology and radiology departments were estimated to be 0.0891 ± 0.0126 μSv/hr, 0.0780 ± 0.0173 μSv/hr and 0.0900 ± 0.0143 μSv/hr respectively. In conclusion, results obtained in this study show that the indoor background ionizing radiation for the sampled location comply with the 0.133 μSv/hr maximum dose limit for the public as recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP).