Radiology

Mr. Mahdi Hassan Al Kalaiti
Chief Radiologic Technologist
MSc in Medical Imaging

Principal Functions and introduction about radiology department:

The Radiology department provides all its services to outpatients from 7 am to 2 pm on week days (Sunday to Thursday) and 24 hours 7 days a week (round the clock services) for inpatients and for patients from Accident & Emergency department.

Private Service in SMC is called Limited Private Practice (LPP)

Radiology is accepting external imaging requisition cards with condition to be approved by medical physician with full patient demography and clinical information. SMC are able to perform almost all radiologic examinations except angiography examinations are not done as private patient because patient required to be an In-Patient and also PET- CT, because we did not have this unit in SMC.

Patient need to pay for all private radiologic examination for Bahraini or no Bahraini residents.

Private patient services are also provided on appointment between 02:00 pm to 6:00 pm on week days (Sunday to Thursday) for following examinations ultrasound and special procedures such as Barium studies, urology studies such IVP, cystogram examination and HSG. Other examination appointment done in the morning time from 7 am to 2 pm on week days (Sunday to Thursday) such as for CT, MRI, NM, mammography and BMD.

Other examinations such as CT, MRI, NM, US and HSG are usually done between 2 pm to 5 pm (Sunday to Thursday).

Some private examinations such as BMD and mammography are done in morning duty at 7 am to 2 pm on week days (Sunday to Thursday)

Radiology department service specializes in the use of imaging for the diagnosis and the interventional treatment for wide range of conditions. This service is the largest medical imaging facilities in the Kingdom of Bahrain. It is exceptionally well equipped and has a wide range of renowned specialists covering almost all the major fields of diagnostic imaging.

The service offers the full range of imaging procedures.

We see patients from all the SMC departments, clinics for out-patient, in-patient wards and from the accident & emergency department. In-patient cases for plain radiography are usually done in afternoon after 2 pm. We also see many specialised referrals from other hospitals and clinics across the Kingdom but these cases will be considered as private patients and it will be done after working hours usually after 2 pm, for plain radiography examination such as chest x-ray, abdomen, extremities, OPG and etc. This will be done after the patient pay for these examinations.

The radiology team consists of 13 Consultant Radiologists, 11 Resident Radiologists, 18 Arab Board, 31 Radiography Technicians, 12 Senior Radiography Technicians, (Diploma in diagnostic Radiography), 15 Radiologic Technologists (BSc and MSc degree in diagnostic radiography and NM), 1 Chief Radiologic Technologist, 2 Medical Physicist (MSc in medical physicist), 2 Special Nursing Specialist, 2 General Nurses (Diploma in general nursing and BSc in nursing), 9 Medical Services Aids, 6 Medical Secretaries (Diploma in medical secretaries), 15 Health Appointment & Medical Records Coordinators, 1 General Supervisor, and 2 Messengers are provided by General Services Department.

We are a teaching department because the SMC is a teaching hospital we are committed to provide state of the art imaging with constantly evolving techniques. This enables us to offer a high quality level of patient care and service.

Available Services in SMC Radiology Dept.:

• Accident & Emergency (A/E) radiography unit (We have two Agfa DR x-ray units in A/E).
• General plain radiography such as chest x-ray, abdomen, extremities & etc. (We have six x-ray units).
• Fluoroscopy imaging and Special Procedures such as Barium studies, Hysterosalpingography (HSG), Sialography, Dacryocystography (DCG), Intravenous Urography (IVU), Micturating Cystourography (MCUG), Retrogarde Urethrography (RGU) etc. (We have two Philips fluoroscopy units one of them is stat of art).
• CT scanning unit (We have two Siemens CT scanners one of them 128 MDCT and 2nd one is 16 MDCT).
• MRI scanning unit (We have two MRI units one is 3 Tesla manufacture by Philips and 2nd one is open magnet and it is 0.35 Tesla manufacture by Siemens).
• Angiography, Neuro-angiography services, Vascular and non-vascular imaging & Intervention unit e.g. stent implantation (We have two units one of them is Bio-plan unit manufacture by GE and 2nd one manufacture by Siemens).
• Ultrasound (US) unit including general, obstetric, gynecological and Doppler studies (We have six big rang US units, one middle range unit and 2 mobile units). The ultrasound units manufacture by Philips –IU 22, Logic 9, Logic 9E, and Siemens & Toshiba.
• Nuclear Medicine (NM) unit (We have two gamma cameras-one single head, manufacture by Siemens which is out of order and it will be replace by end of this year 2015 and 2nd is dual head camera manufactured by Philips). A new molecular imaging unit will be built by end of the year 2015 and this will be equipped with 3 NM units including SPECT CT scans.
• Pediatric imaging (We have two pediatric consultant radiologists).
• Mammography unit (We have one mammography system manufactured by GE).
• Bone Mineral Densitometry (BMD) (We have one BMD system manufactured by GE).
• Portable X-ray examinations, Operation Theatre x-ray procedures, Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiography and Pancreatography (ERCP) in endoscopy department and Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy (ESWL) manufacture by Siemens. The mobile DR is manufacture by Siemens, Shimdzu. All mobile C-arm units are manufactured by Philips.
• Thermo luminescent Dosimeter (TLD) services (We have two TLD systems and these services are only available in SMC in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Location:

The entire SMC radiology department is located in the ground floor.

Making an appointment in diagnostic imaging service:

An appointment is normally required for all services except for general x-ray which is available on demand from 7 am to 2 pm from Sunday to Thursday at the SMC. For general x-ray we do advise that patients to arrive between 7 am to 1 pm so that they are most likely to be seen immediately.

We cannot accept appointments over the telephone as we require specific written information in order to give you the correct preparation information/medication. This information is included with the appointment slip and examination instruction and preparation sheet.

For some of examinations such CT, MRI, NM & angiography, the Non-Bahraini's has to pay, except if the patient conditions are very serious and he/she is in A/E department.

If SMC patient need for PET CT the SMC NM unit will coordinate with King Hamad University Hospital (KHUH) for his/her appointment for these exams.

Cancellation & contact telephone number in Radiology Dept.:

If you are unable to make an appointment, please let us know. This reduces waiting time for other patients.

Radiology appointment line: (Sunday–Thursday 7am–2pm)

Tel. 17284005 - 17284018

If you have any other enquiry:

Chairperson office: Tel. 17284008 – 17284026 – 17284255: Sunday Thursday 7am–2pm Fax 17284030

Chief Radiologic Technologist: Tel. 17285541- 17285537- 17285270 Sunday Thursday 7am–2pm Fax 17285540

CT scan: 17284010 17284034 (on call service) appointment office 17284019

MRI: MRI No.1 17285871 – MRI No.2 open 17285054 (on call service) appointment office 17285873

Nuclear medicine (NM): 17284017 -17284035 (on call service) appointment office 17284019

Old reception office: 17285538 -17285775 Sunday Thursday 7 am–2 pm

Main reception office: 17284000/17284027 appointment office 17284005 Sunday Thursday 7 am–2 pm

Accident & Emergency Unit Tel. 17284084 – 17284160 - 17284748 24 hours

Patient information:

There is an informative and interactive website

https://youth.moh.gov.bh/HealthInstitution/Radiology?lang=en

Provided by the SMC radiology where different procedures and examinations performed in our department are explained in both languages Arabic and English.