Vietnam ready to treat those exposed to radiation in Japan

The Ministry of Science and Technology is preparing for receiving and treating those returning from Japan who may have been exposed to radioactive contamination.

The Nuclear Medicine and Oncology Centre under Bach Mai hospital in downtown Hanoi and many other medical clinics are experienced in treating domestic patients suffering from radiation sickness as a result of incidents in laboratories or during radiation management.

After the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster in the Soviet Union, the hospital treated many people returning to Vietnam who had been exposed to radiation from the plant.

Dr Mai Trong Khoa, Director of the Nuclear Medicine and Oncology Centre, said his centre has the necessary equipment to record levels of internal exposure and radioactive fallout in nature.

Khoa spotlighted two dangerous radioactive isotopes, iodine 131 and caesium 137, which are able to dissipate far into the atmosphere, and can cause cancer, especially leukemia and thyroid cancer, or genetic mutations for one or more generations.

The danger of absorbing radioactive iodine in humans can be reduced by taking sufficient non-radioactive iodine, he said.

All people returning to Vietnam from nuclear incident-stricken areas in Japan have to be screened for both external radiation exposure (where radiation is present on clothes, hair or skin), and internal radiation contamination through ingestion and inhalation.

The Institute for Nuclear Science and Technique is still taking samples of air and rain once per day for isotope analysis but has not detected any radioactive contamination in the country.

No citizens returning from Japan have been found to contain radioisotopes in their bodies so far.