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Canada’s doctors say the ongoing medical isotope shortage “is not sustainable,” especially while there is a flu pandemic eating up health-care resources.
They are pushing the federal government to quickly come up with short-term solutions and to take a second look at its decision to get out of the isotope business.
Dr. Anne Doig, president of the Canadian Medical Association, told the House of Commons health committee Monday that the health-care system is “coping” with the shortage of isotopes, which are used in treating and diagnosing conditions including cancer and heart disease, but that the country’s doctors are worried about the toll it is taking.
“In particular, the resulting increased demand on resources — both human and financial — and especially now in the midst of a pandemic, is not sustainable,” Doig told the MPs.
Nuclear medicine specialists have been grappling with a reduced supply of isotopes since May when the National Research Universal reactor at Chalk River was closed because of a leak. The aging reactor produced 80 per cent of the isotopes for the Canadian market and 40 per cent of the world’s market. The shutdown then forced countries to rely on only four other reactors in the world that are capable of producing medical isotopes and to find alternative techniques, some of which Doig described as “suboptimal.”
One of the alternative methods for example, involves exposing patients to higher levels of radiation than with isotopes and was used decades ago before better isotope technology was developed.
Patients have still been getting their tests and treatment but it’s involved daily juggling acts because of uncertain supply, many delays along the way, and increased costs.
Dr. Jean-Luc Urbain, president of the Canadian Association of Nuclear Medicine, told the committee that doctors and technologists have been able to minimize the effects of the shortage through extraordinary efforts but that it is having damaging and long-lasting consequences.
He said the enrolment of medical students in nuclear medicine is down, some specialists are heading for the United States, and some technicians have lost their jobs. Canada’s international reputation has also taken a beating, said Urbain.