SEADYA SAID, B.S GOSHU^#, E. TAJU, B.T. TOLAWAK

Department of Physics, Dire Dawa University, Ethiopia

The aim of this study was to assess the quality assurance of conventional X-ray machines installed in two towns from Eastern Ethiopia, Dire Dawa and Harar, at different hospitals, clinics and health centers. Data collection took place with the collaboration of the Ethiopian Radiation Protection Authority’s (ERPA) inspection team using the check lists, interviews with the owners of the facilities, radiographers and radiation safety officers. In this study, the test beam alignment, beam collimator, X-ray tube peak voltage (kVp) accuracy, timer accuracy, and half-value layer (HVL) were evaluated for each X-ray machine, in order to obtain quality control measuring device according to designed methods. The results indicate that out of 31 X-ray machines tube voltage accuracy was 90.32, 93.55, 96.77 and 93.55 percent  for peak tube voltage settings of  90, 80, 70 and 60 kV, respectively. Timer accuracy was 93.10, 89.66, 93.10 and 86.20 % for timer settings of 0.4, 0.2, 0.125 and 0.08 s, respectively. Test results revealed that all machines were in the normal range in what concerns  collimator and alignment. Output consistency and HVL were in acceptable limits for 96.77 % of the investigated machines. Our study suggests that X-ray equipment performance can be improved by radiation protection training, establishing a quality assurance program.

Key words: quality control, X-ray machine, quality assurance

Corresponding author’s e-mail: belaysitotaw@gmail.com