Dentists fight govt over new nuclear laws

Dentists fight govt over new nuclear laws

Push to exclude X-ray scanners from act

Volunteer dentist club members walk from Victory Monument to the Ministry of Science and Technology, urging a review on an amended law regulating nuclear energy. (Photo by Patipat Janthong)
Volunteer dentist club members walk from Victory Monument to the Ministry of Science and Technology, urging a review on an amended law regulating nuclear energy. (Photo by Patipat Janthong)

A Thai volunteer dentist club has called on the Public Health Ministry to review the amended law regulating nuclear energy for fear the act will affect the operation of dental clinics nationwide.

More than 50 club members representing dentists from both public and private dental clinics lodged a petition Wednesday with Public Health Minister Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn and Science and Technology Minister Pichet Durongkaveroj, urging the two ministries to reconsider the Nuclear Energy for Peace Act, set to be implemented on Feb 1 next year.

The move came after Dental Council president Paisan Kangvonkit submitted a letter to Mr Pichet last week, expressing his concern over the legislation. The letter said it would cause a huge impact on more than 6,000 dental clinics across the country.

Dentist Somchai Sooksuthamwong, a representative of the club, urged the ministry to assign the Medical Sciences Department (DMSC) and the Dental Council to work with the Science and Technology Ministry (MOST) to ensure dental X-ray scanners are not regulated in the way proposed under the act. He said dentists do not use X-ray machines for patient treatment but only for dental diagnosis.

The X-ray machines used in dental clinics were not harmful.

Also, the criteria involving the machines should not be based on the degree of harmful radiation they produce, but the duration of the operation which normally takes only 0.2 seconds at a time at dental clinics.

The new law stipulates that owners of dental X-ray machines must have proper ownership licences and are required to pay annual fees for their machines.

As for dental clinics, they are required to pay an additional licence fee of 1,000 baht per year for the machines.

Operators of such machines must also be radiation safety officers (RSOs) who have gone through proper examinations to obtain a licence which will be divided into three professional levels based on their responsibilities.

Mr Somchai also called on the ministry to work with the Health Service Support Department (HSS) on an amendment to a ministerial regulation under the act stipulating that all dental clinics must have X-ray machines which also comply with the 1998 Sanatorium Act.

Mr Somchai said X-ray scanners were not necessary for some small-scale dental clinics which provided only dental calcium removal and tooth filling services.

Meanwhile, MOPH permanent secretary Sophon Mekthon, who received the petition, said the ministry will take the club's requests into consideration, saying the DMSC and the HSS will be assigned to discuss the issue.

The ministry's legal officials will be instructed to study whether the act will affect the operation of any local clinics as only some of them had the necessary RSO personnel. About 400 clinics lacked radiological technologists, he added.

Mr Paisan said the council supports the concept of the act, which focusses on the safety of healthcare workers and patients, but the radiation emitted during a dental X-ray is minimal.

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