'Decision negatively impacts nuclear medicine diagnosis, treatment quality'

KUWAIT: The Kuwait society of nuclear medicine urged the Ministry of Health (MoH) to cancel a previous decision to turn nuclear medicine departments into units under a new medical imaging department headed by a diagnostic radiologist without even discussing the issue with nuclear medicine doctors or justifying the decision.

"The decision was not well-studied and has negative impacts on nuclear medicine diagnosis and treatment quality," said the society in a press statement on the sidelines of the Kuwait society of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging general assembly. "This decision is a step backwards in the field," the society added, noting nuclear medicine has been practiced in Kuwait since the 1960s through independent departments under a single council for nuclear medicine, diagnostic radiology and radiotherapy departments before a separate council was established in 2009 for nuclear medicine departments.

"We currently have 11 separate nuclear medicine departments in public and private hospitals, in addition to one at the military hospital and another at the faculty of medicine," the society explained, pointing to the presence of a separate college for nuclear medicine supervised by Kuwait Institute for Medical Specialties (KIMS) offering five-year high-quality training programs since the 1980s.

Further, the society elaborated that the equipment used for nuclear medicine are different from those used in diagnostic radiology departments and need special licenses to handle and prepare unsealed sources of radioactive materials.

By Meshaal Al-Enezi