KUWAIT: The Ministry of Health (MoH) has stressed the importance of providing a compact positron imaging device with magnetic resonance—the first of its kind in the nuclear medicine departments of Jahra and Farwaniya hospitals—as it gives a more accurate diagnosis. This came during a training course launched on Sunday at the Institute of Medical Specializations under the title “Radiation Safety of the Combined Positron Imaging Device with Magnetic Resonance.” The program was organized by the Radiation Protection Department at the Ministry of Health.

The head of the organizing committee of the course, Dr Hanan Al-Dosari, said that this event comes under the patronage of the Assistant Undersecretary for Public Health Affairs, Dr Al-Munther Al-Hassawi, and is the fifth session in a series of training courses that began last March. Al-Dosari added that the positron imaging device combines the use of positron emission and magnetic resonance to evaluate and diagnose cases. This integration will provide accurate images of tissues using magnetic resonance imaging, and the activity of the metabolism of cells can be determined, thus providing a more accurate diagnosis than the work of either of the two examinations separately.

She pointed out that the Ministry provided this device, the first of its kind in the nuclear medicine departments in Jahra and Farwaniya hospitals, at a time when the Ministry and the radiation protection department are keen to provide such training courses for workers in the field of ionizing and non-ionizing radiation to develop their skills and apply the highest standards of radiation safety.

She pointed out that the number of participants in the course from the departments of nuclear medicine, diagnostic radiology, Kuwait University, and the Emergency Center for the Gulf Cooperation Council countries has reached 99. The two-day course is presented by the Director of the Research Facilities Department at Saudi Arabia, the consultant of medical physics, Dr Adnan Al-Watban, and a group of specialists from the Department of Radiation Protection. — KUNA