Cyclotron not a priority

To the editor:

The current plans for a cyclotron at Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre reminds me of the same faulty logic used to build a design-as-you-go hospital that lacks sufficient beds, is poorly designed, and operated with insufficient nurses, staff and doctors.

A $6.5 million cyclotron to be built in a separate $27 million building? We need nurses, staff, and beds, not an apparatus flawed in many areas that appears to be someone’s personal dream to build a tool at our city’s expense.

First I question the purpose and viability of our city and hospital entering into arrangements with some of the world’s largest equipment manufacturers. The hospital should be focused on providing health care, not speculative research that appears motivated by commercial gain.

Secondly, the CEO of the research facility spoke of the great benefits of creating new isotopes with half-lives of even five minutes. This would suggest that every facility using this device must also create its own isotopes, making the system expensive to set up.

Caesar J. B. Squitti,
Thunder Bay