Diagnostic Imaging in Qatar: Seven Rules, One Banned Unit
September 26, 2026
8 min read
DITEC Experts, Radiation Protection Team, ALDuha Institute for Training and Environmental Consulting
Seven requirements, and two of them are about women and children
Article 41 is headed Protection requirements in diagnostic exposure, and it addresses the licensees directly: they are to satisfy themselves of the items that follow. The first sets the standard the whole article turns on: diagnostic exposures are to be kept at the lowest level reasonably achievable, while respecting the rules on acceptable image quality laid down by the competent professional bodies, and the relevant guidance levels.
Two items build a feedback loop that most departments never close. Item 2 requires the licensees to consider carrying out reviews where doses exceed the guidance levels set by the Committee. Item 3 requires them to take into account relevant information from previous examinations, so as to avoid unnecessary additional examinations. A repeat scan because the previous images could not be found is exactly what item 3 is about.
Item 4 gives the choice of exposure conditions to the people at the machine - the medical practitioner, the technologist or other imaging staff - and tells them what to optimise: the number of images, and the organs or parts to be imaged, so that the combination produces the lowest radiation exposure to the patient consistent with the image quality required and the clinical purpose of the examination. It then adds a phrase that matters: especially when children are being imaged.
Items 5 and 6 deal with pregnancy and with the possibility of it. Examinations causing exposure of the abdomen or pelvis of a pregnant woman, or of one likely to be pregnant, are to be avoided unless there are strong clinical reasons to justify them. And where a diagnostic examination of the abdomen or pelvis of a woman of childbearing capacity is planned, it must be planned so as to produce the lowest possible dose to a foetus if one is present. Item 7 closes with shielding for radiosensitive organs - the reproductive system, the lens of the eye, the breast and the thyroid - as appropriate and wherever possible.
Article 44: a prohibition, then three conditions
Article 44 is the shortest article in this part and the most quotable. It is headed Fluoroscopy units in chest and internal medicine clinics, and its first sentence is a flat prohibition: vertical fluoroscopy units are forbidden in chest clinics, in internal medicine clinics and in the clinics of general practitioners.
Non-vertical units are not banned, but they are not free either: their use in specialist clinics is licensed only where the conditions the article sets are met. Three conditions follow, and each is a thing an inspector can look at.
The second condition carries the reasoning openly, which is rare in a regulation: films must be available, and fluoroscopy is not to be used as a way of saving the cost of films and processing facilities where the required information could be obtained at a lower radiation dose through ordinary radiographic methods. Fluoroscopy is not the cheap substitute for radiography when radiography would answer the question at a lower dose.
Article 44: where a fluoroscopy unit may and may not be used
| Setting | Vertical units | Non-vertical units |
|---|---|---|
| Chest and internal medicine clinics, and general practitioners' clinics | Prohibited | Not addressed as licensable in these clinics; the article licenses them in specialist clinics |
| Specialist clinics | Not covered by the licensing sentence | Licensed only if the three conditions are met |
The three conditions, and what they ask a clinic to prove
None of the three is a formality, and a clinic that has a unit installed can check itself against them this week.
Article 44: the three licensing conditions
All three must be met
- The unit can take ordinary film radiographs in addition to fluoroscopy, and the tool used takes spot images directly during the fluoroscopic procedure.
- Film processing facilities are available, and fluoroscopy is not used to save the cost of films and processing where the information could be obtained at a lower dose by ordinary radiography.
- A person qualified to operate the unit is available, and able to secure optimum protection for patients, other workers and the public, as well as for himself.
Questions people actually ask
Can a chest clinic keep a fluoroscopy screen?
Vertical fluoroscopy units are prohibited in chest and internal medicine clinics and in general practitioners' clinics. Non-vertical units are licensed in specialist clinics only when the three conditions of Article 44 are met.
A patient may be pregnant and needs an abdominal X-ray. What does the text say?
Article 41(5) requires avoiding examinations that expose the abdomen or pelvis of a pregnant woman, or one likely to be pregnant, unless there are strong clinical reasons to justify them. Where the woman is of childbearing capacity, item 6 requires the examination to be planned for the lowest possible dose to a foetus if one is present.
Must we shield the thyroid and the eyes?
Article 41(7) requires shielding for radiosensitive organs such as the reproductive system, the lens of the eye, the breast and the thyroid, as appropriate and wherever possible.
What happens if our doses exceed the guidance levels?
Article 41(2) asks the licensee to consider carrying out reviews. The guidance levels themselves are set by the Committee, so the current values should be obtained from the competent authority rather than assumed.
How the Institute can help
Article 41 is mostly about decisions made at the machine, minute by minute, and Article 44 is about what may be installed in the room at all.
The Institute trains the medical-sector Radiation Safety Officer and radiation workers in hospitals and clinics, and helps departments put the written pieces in place: pregnancy enquiry and shielding procedures, a record of guidance levels with a review trigger, and a check of installed equipment against Article 44 before an inspection raises it.
Scope of what the Institute does: training and consulting. Field radiation surveys are carried out through specialist partners working in the field. The Institute does not carry out laboratory analysis, instrument calibration or equipment testing.
This explanation is published for awareness by the radiation protection team at ALDuha Institute for Training and Environmental Consulting. The English text is an explanation, not a certified translation: the Arabic text published in the Official Gazette governs in case of any difference, and the official Arabic wording of every article discussed here is quoted in full on the Arabic version of this article. This article does not replace the official text or advice from the competent authority. Last updated 25 September 2026. Reviewed by Dr. Said Kaddouch, PhD in Medical Physics, radiation protection expert.