Health care workers, patients and experts have their say on the impact of the medical isotope shortage

The global medical isotope shortage began in May 2009, when Canada announced that its 52-year-old nuclear reactor in Chalk River, Ontario, would be closed for repairs for at least three months. But three months later, the government extended the shut-down, telling the world that medical isotope production would not come back on line by the first quarter of 2010 – at the earliest.