Over half of doctors are unsatisfied with radiation control in their hospitals

In the evening of February 20, 2013, Fang Zhouzi, China’s top “science cop”, claimed on his Weibo page that a serious radioactive leakage in Wuhan Union Hospital, Wuhan, Hubei Province, had resulted in four female hospital obstetrics and gynecology professors suffering from thyroid cancer. This astonishing news has triggered heated discussions on hospital nuclear security and occupational radiation exposure. Doctors, particularly those working in the radiology and orthopedic departments, are often exposed to excess radiation doses. Although the Chinese government has required all the health care providers to adopt certain protective measures to enhance radiation safety in health care settings, the policies are not consistently or uniformly implemented in all hospitals. Now, the questions are: Is thyroid cancer a common disease among doctors? Is the prevalence of thyroid cancer among doctors far higher than that in the common population? Thereof, DXY (http://www.dxy.cn/) conducted a questionnaire-based survey titled “Are you satisfied with the radiation control in your hospital?”.