Topic: Access to Medical Isotopes
Country: South Korea
Delegate Name: Paige Etchison
School: Fishers High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All South Korea position papers GLIMUN 2014 committees
Medical isotopes are oftentimes necessary in order to obtain a correct diagnosis for any disease that requires medical imaging technology (such as PET, MRI, fMRI, or CAT scans) in order to diagnose and track progress of treatment, one of the most pressing of these being cancer, which requires PET scans in order to track the metabolic activity (as well as location) of the cancer cells and tumors over the course of the treatment. Yet, due to their radioactive nature, these isotopes pose major issues in their production, transport, and usage, as well as the shortages that exist when these issues cannot be resolved quickly, preventing imaging scans which are often necessary to ensure proper treatment. Some other issues involve the high costs of obtaining these isotopes (and the imaging machines they are used with) as well as the issue of how much of these medical isotopes should be produced.
The Republic of Korea has had many years of previous struggles involving creating an effective medical care system, as well as making sure that health care system is available to all citizens. Over the past thirty years, the Republic of Korea has worked to increase the amount of imaging technology per capita in order to improve the ability of medical professionals to diagnose illness in our people, and currently there are 21.3 MRI scanners and 35.9 CT scanners per 1,000,000 citizens, greatly improving the abilities of medical professionals in the Republic of Korea to diagnose medical conditions that threaten the health and safety of our people. The Republic of Korea encourages the increased availability of medical imaging technology, especially in areas where access is currently limited. With members on the High-level Group on the Security of Supply of Medical Radioisotopes, a committee of government selected experts on radioactive isotopes used in medical imaging as well as government agents who are experts on nuclear energy policy. The focus of this group is to regulate research and industrial organizations involved with the production of medical isotopes.
When it comes to determining a course of action, the Republic of Korea recommends the following: increasing the role of the international community in the encouragement of increasing the availability of imaging technology as well as medical isotopes to nations which might have had limited access in the past, and increasing the diagnostic capabilities of the global community as a whole, while still ensuring that the global community remains safe during the creation, transport, and usage of these materials.
