Health officials in Guarda have confirmed the existence of a radiation leak in the town hospital’s CAT scanning equipment. But they say the situation “does not pose any kind of danger to public health”.
Needless to say, since the leak was identified, the scanner has been out of commission, “except for the most urgent cases”.
Health authority sources say they hope to rectify the problem within the next few days.
The situation was discovered last Friday by chance, explains Diário de Notícias.
One of the scanning unit’s technicians announced to colleagues that she was pregnant and they decided it would be wise to make a “small rudimentary check with a coin”.
Carlos Rodrigues, administrative head of Guarda’s health unit, said that in the opinion of staff, radiation levels were “higher than they should have been”.
In principle, he added, there should not be any kind of harmful consequences, particularly as readings were taken of the glass behind which technicians stand during patient scans, and that “between the glass, there is a table”.
