Nuclear Medicine and Radiotherapy in Qatar: The Extra Rules
September 26, 2026
9 min read
DITEC Experts, Radiation Protection Team, ALDuha Institute for Training and Environmental Consulting
When the source goes inside the patient
Diagnostic radiography ends when the exposure ends. Nuclear medicine does not: the patient leaves the department carrying the source, and for a while he is a source to the people around him. Article 42 is written with that in mind, which is why it reaches beyond the procedure into breastfeeding, into pregnancy and into children.
The article opens with the same three-part optimisation as diagnosis - the minimum exposure necessary to achieve the required diagnostic aim, the use of previous examinations so as to avoid unnecessary additional ones, and regard to the relevant guidance levels the Committee sets for medical radiation exposure - and then turns to what is specific to a substance that has been administered.
Item 2 puts three techniques in the hands of the practitioner and the technologist: choosing appropriately from the best available radiopharmaceuticals and the activity they carry, with attention to the particular requirements of children and of patients with impaired organ function; using methods that prevent uptake of the radioactive preparation in organs not under investigation, together with methods of accelerated excretion from the body where needed; and optimal acquisition and processing of the images.
Breastfeeding, pregnancy, and children
Item 4 is the one that changes what a department says to a patient on the way out: breastfeeding mothers are to be advised to stop breastfeeding until the body has cleared the amount of radiopharmaceutical estimated to deliver an unacceptable effective dose to the infant. The duty is to advise, and the period is defined by excretion, not by a fixed number in the Regulation - which is precisely why the advice has to come from someone who knows the agent that was given.
Item 3 covers pregnancy on both sides of the department: the use of radionuclides in diagnostic procedures and in radiation treatment procedures is to be avoided during pregnancy, and in a woman who is likely to be pregnant, unless there are strong clinical reasons.
Item 5 is the strictest sentence in the article: prescribing radionuclide diagnosis for children is confined to cases of the utmost necessity, and the activity used is to be reduced according to the child's weight or body surface area, or other appropriate criteria. Extreme necessity, and then a reduced activity scaled to the child. A department that administers adult activity to a child is outside this item twice over.
Article 43: five requirements for treatment
Article 43 is headed Protection requirements in therapeutic exposure, and its first item states the whole discipline of radiotherapy protection: the exposure of healthy tissue during radiotherapy is to be kept as low as reasonable, consistent with delivering the required dose to the planned treatment volume, and organ shielding is to be used wherever that is practical and appropriate.
Items 2, 3 and 4 carry pregnancy through treatment: avoiding procedures that expose the abdomen or pelvis of a pregnant woman or one likely to be pregnant without strong clinical reasons; avoiding radionuclides for therapeutic procedures in a pregnant woman or one likely to be pregnant, and in breastfeeding women; and, when a pregnant woman is treated, planning any therapeutic procedure so that it delivers no more than the lowest possible dose to any foetus.
Item 5 is four words in the Arabic text, and it is the one a patient would care about most: informing the patient of the potential risks. That is not left to good practice; it is in the Regulation.
Pregnancy across the three medical articles
| Setting | What the text requires |
|---|---|
| Diagnostic imaging - Article 41(5) and (6) | Avoid exposure of the abdomen or pelvis without strong clinical reasons; where the woman is of childbearing capacity, plan for the lowest possible dose to a foetus if present |
| Nuclear medicine - Article 42(3) and (4) | Avoid radionuclides in diagnosis and therapy during pregnancy or likely pregnancy without strong clinical reasons; advise breastfeeding mothers to stop until excretion |
| Radiotherapy - Article 43(2), (3) and (4) | Avoid procedures exposing the abdomen or pelvis, and radionuclide therapy, without strong clinical reasons; if a pregnant woman is treated, plan for the lowest possible dose to any foetus |
Questions people actually ask
How long should a mother stop breastfeeding after a scan?
The Regulation does not give a number. Article 42(4) requires advising her to stop until the excretion of the quantity of the radiopharmaceutical estimated to transfer an unacceptable effective dose to the infant - so the period depends on the agent given and should come from the practitioner or the medical physicist.
Can children have nuclear medicine scans?
Article 42(5) restricts prescribing radionuclide diagnosis for children to cases of extreme necessity, with the activity reduced according to the child's weight or body surface area, or other suitable criteria.
Must we tell the patient about the risks of radiotherapy?
Yes. Article 43(5) states it in a few words: informing the patient of the potential risks.
Does the Regulation require shielding of organs during treatment?
Article 43(1) requires keeping healthy tissue exposure as low as reasonable, consistent with delivering the required dose to the planned treatment volume, and the use of organ shielding wherever that is practical and appropriate.
How the Institute can help
Nuclear medicine and radiotherapy are where the Regulation asks for a medical physicist by name, and where the instructions a patient is given after the procedure become part of compliance.
The Institute trains the medical-sector Radiation Safety Officer and the radiation workers around these departments, and helps write the parts that are asked for in writing: the pregnancy and breastfeeding enquiry and advice, the paediatric activity rule, and the patient information that Article 43(5) requires.
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.