Doctors with cancer blame X-ray machines
By Li Qian |
February 23, 2013, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
SOME medical professionals in a hospital in central China said they went on strike after three doctors claimed lengthy exposure to X-rays without adequate protection triggered their cancers.
Three female gynecologists in their 50s from Wuhan Union Hospital in Hubei Province were diagnosed this year with thyroid cancer, which can be caused by radiation poisoning. Their thyroids have been removed, and they will undergo radiotherapy, the Beijing Times reported yesterday.
They blamed the hospital, citing haphazard supervision over the radiation machines and little concern for staff health, according to their statement, published on Monday.
The statement said they always perform surgery in a fourth-floor operating room, with two X-ray machines just above them in two orthopedic operating rooms on the upper floor.
The two operating rooms weren't radiation proof, they said. The hospital is missing necessary documents, such as an environmental evaluation report and health authority approval, they said. Also, the hospital never monitors the radiation, they claimed.
At least four doctors at the hospital develop thyroid cancer every year, The Beijing News cited a doctor as saying.
People exposed to high X-ray levels over time have a higher risk of leukemia and cancers of the thyroid, breast and lung.
Their story has sparked deep concern among hospital staff, with some medical staffers who work in the two operating rooms walking off the job, forcing the hospital to suspend some surgical procedures, The Beijing News reported.
Hospital officials denied the accusations, saying the hospital just passed three tests conducted by the Hubei Disease Prevention and Control Center between December and February. But they did not show any qualification reports or approvals, the newspaper reported.
The provincial health bureau said an investigation showed no sign of a radioactivity problem in the operating rooms.
The X-ray machines are also up to standard, it said.
But China's famous "science cop," Fang Zhouzi, a self-proclaimed fighter against pseudoscience, didn't accept the assurances of officials.
"Hospital insiders told me they had put away the radiation machines under lock and key before the authority came to start an inspection," he wrote.
Neither the provincial health bureau nor the hospital has issued a response.
Three female gynecologists in their 50s from Wuhan Union Hospital in Hubei Province were diagnosed this year with thyroid cancer, which can be caused by radiation poisoning. Their thyroids have been removed, and they will undergo radiotherapy, the Beijing Times reported yesterday.
They blamed the hospital, citing haphazard supervision over the radiation machines and little concern for staff health, according to their statement, published on Monday.
The statement said they always perform surgery in a fourth-floor operating room, with two X-ray machines just above them in two orthopedic operating rooms on the upper floor.
The two operating rooms weren't radiation proof, they said. The hospital is missing necessary documents, such as an environmental evaluation report and health authority approval, they said. Also, the hospital never monitors the radiation, they claimed.
At least four doctors at the hospital develop thyroid cancer every year, The Beijing News cited a doctor as saying.
People exposed to high X-ray levels over time have a higher risk of leukemia and cancers of the thyroid, breast and lung.
Their story has sparked deep concern among hospital staff, with some medical staffers who work in the two operating rooms walking off the job, forcing the hospital to suspend some surgical procedures, The Beijing News reported.
Hospital officials denied the accusations, saying the hospital just passed three tests conducted by the Hubei Disease Prevention and Control Center between December and February. But they did not show any qualification reports or approvals, the newspaper reported.
The provincial health bureau said an investigation showed no sign of a radioactivity problem in the operating rooms.
The X-ray machines are also up to standard, it said.
But China's famous "science cop," Fang Zhouzi, a self-proclaimed fighter against pseudoscience, didn't accept the assurances of officials.
"Hospital insiders told me they had put away the radiation machines under lock and key before the authority came to start an inspection," he wrote.
Neither the provincial health bureau nor the hospital has issued a response.
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