One of the problems we've had is that nuclear medicine is available in 245 places across Canada. Their alternatives are not. Certainly, with thallium it's a little bit different, even though it's not as good. But because of the patchy coverage with PET scanning across the country, it seems that it's going to require some triage that may actually cross borders. There's a PET scanner in Gatineau, but as yet there's not one here that is being used clinically.
Do you see your role as helping to form a triage system that even the Prime Minister has now agreed is necessary? Would you be prepared to stand up at the Health Canada operations centre and figure out the patients who need it and how long they're waiting?
I have yet to see a map that shows, of the 245 sites across the country, where the sources are, because even in Newfoundland, two of the clinics get it from Chalk River and two of the clinics get it from Holland. Obviously, in Alberta you're way better off because you get yours from Holland and you have secure contracts, like B.C. does. How are you going to share across the country if this 70% drop, the global shortage, happens in July, and how are you going to make sure--for example, for the kids--there is access to PET scanning across the country? Turning the Ontario research ones into clinical ones, and perhaps even exploring the portable PETs that seem to be available in the United States on 18-wheeler tractor trailers, ready to come north if we need them...are these the kinds of things you will be doing?